Amusement
by Vampy285
Summary: Tenten is blackmailed into going out with Neji. She hates him, and he has no interest in her, but they have to act like they're in love. And Tenten just hates every minute of it. Boarding school, Nejiten, AU.
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...neither do I own 'I've just seen a face' by the Beatles...

* * *

**Chapter One**

Ugh, math first lesson...I hate math...

I push my way to my seat at the very back of the classroom, only to find Neji sitting in it.

"Neji, get the hell out of my seat." I snap at him.

"I'll give it back to you when the bell rings, Tenten." He frowns.

"Why are you even sitting there! You sit right next to-oh."

Ino is sitting in his seat.

I knew that.

"Okay, whatever, I don't care about you and your little chit-chats. Just get the HELL OUTTA MY SEAT!" I yell at him in frustration. My bag is killing me, and I need to sit! Stupid fucktard...

"Fine." He sighs. "Lets go find Temari and Sasuke." He says to Ino, who nods and stand up. They walk away together, laughing about something.

Stupid Neji...what kinda guy has a bunch of _girls_ for best friends anyway? Okay, my friends do, but that's beside the point.

Oh whatever.

Suddenly Ms. Kurenai strides into the room and Neji comes back and sits down beside me.

"Okay class, turn to page 345 in your text books please." She orders.

Yeah good morning to you too.

I sigh and flip lazily through the pages of my textbook.

Kurenai starts talking about some random math topic.

Whatever. Like I give a...blah.

"This is so boring." I mutter under my breath. Next to me, Neji nods in agreement.

Oh wait...everyone is opening their books. Is it time to work now? I look up at the blackboard to see what we need to do.

Oh my God. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J?!!

Damn Kurenai.

"I wanna kill myself." I moan, burying my head in my arms. I didn't get to sleep until _one_ in the morning...

"Don't do it here, no one wants to clean up after you." Neji says.

Oh he thinks he's so funny.

"Shut up."

He doesn't say anything.

Is that supposed to be funny or something?

Ugh, whatever. Who cares about him. Now I can fantasize about suicide in peace. If it wasn't so boring.

I prop my head on my elbow and observe Neji, in an attempt relieve my ennui.

He's wearing a long sleeved black turtleneck, which I suppose is appropriate the this kind of weather. His long hair is loose, and hides his face from my view.

Okay, I should stop staring at him. He might notice.

I get out my books and start working, getting through the exercises fast enough.

Forty-five minutes later, I finally finish. I look up and across at Neji, and see him smirking at Ino, flipping his pen in his fingers.

Huh. Show-off.

* * *

Finally, lunch! I was starving... 

I plonk my plate down on the table and sit next to Hinata. We're eating in a lunch room that's reserved for Year 11s only. It's basically a big room filled with around ten round white tables, with some wooden chairs tucked under them. Yeah, sounds nice doesn't it?

I start eating my Singaporean noodle thing.

Ew...

"So Lee looked at the frog and asked me whether it was real or fake, and I'm like 'of course it's real, no one would make something that ugly'." Naruto is laughing.

Retards...

Hinata giggles lightly, and Gaara shakes his head, sighing "Idiots..."

Oh yeah, these are my best friends, Gaara, Hinata, Naruto and Lee. A kind of weird circle if you think about it...but I don't.

Okay, Gaara came to this school three years ago and was really depressed and suicidal, and Naruto spent months getting Gaara to trust him. Then he spent years trying to convert Gaara to happiness and blah. Without succeeding. But, Gaara is a lot happier now.

Hinata and I are friends with Naruto because he's Lee's childhood friend. Lee was my friend since Year 5 and Hinata's been my friend since Year 7.

So, that's basically it.

"Frogs aren't ugly! They are beautiful creatures and should be respected!" Lee cries.

...we're still talking about frogs?

"..."

"Hello? Do you know what kind of animal you're talking about?" Naruto says, waving his hand in front of Lee's face. "Frogs, Lee, frogs! They're so goddamn ugly! And slimy! And disgusting!"

Eloquent, isn't he?

"We're eating, can you shut up about frogs?" I say lazily.

"Yeah, but Tenten, I have a biology test later! Frogs are biological aren't they?" Naruto says to me, wide-eyed.

...I think he's actually serious...

"Yeah, sure Naruto." I nod at him slowly. What an idiot.

"Naruto, stop making a fool of yourself." Gaara snaps at him. "Shut up and eat."

Naruto pouts and makes a hurt face. Huh. Like Gaara would actually-

"You look stupid." He says flatly. Naruto just huffs and starts eating his tuna sandwich.

I sit back and survey the scene. Lee starts reciting some crap he's memorized for the biology test, and Hinata listens patiently, braiding her long lavender hair. Gaara rolls his eyes at me, and I grin back. Oh well. Lee is one of the best in his class, I guess, so maybe we should do what he does and study like crazy. His favourite saying is 'Hard work will defeat genius!'. But he's never actually beat the genius in his class, Sasuke Uchiha. I kinda pity him, he works so hard to beat him.

"Hey, Tenten, can you do this graph for me?" Naruto pulls out a sheet of blue graph paper and his notebook.

"Sure," I yawn. "Give."

I take out a ruler and a pencil and start drawing the stupid graph, listening to the other fours' conversation.

"You guys wanna go to a movie tomorrow?" Naruto asks, bored, drawing circles on the table.

"That would be so fun! We could rejoice our youth together!" Lee yells.

Naruto backs away slightly. "Now I don't want to go..."

"I want to go." Hinata says quietly, smiling.

Gaara just gives them a 'I'll-go-but-you-better-not-do-what-you-did-last-time' glare.

"Tenten?"

"Yeah, sure..." I mumble, distracted. I just screwed up the scale...

"Tenten, we better leave for physics. We've got to go to the other building." Hinata reminds me, looking at her watch. She picks up her blue bag and waits for me.

"One sec, almost done..." I scribble on the stupid labels and fling the paper at Naruto.

Except paper isn't exactly the best 'flinging' material and it kinda lands in his food.

"Tenten!" Naruto shrieks.

"Oh don't complain to me, I did the thing for you." I grin at the others and walk out into the stairwell with Hinata.

Together, we walk across the road and to the other building of our school.

"Hey, remember the last time we all went to a movie, Hinata?" I snigger as we walk. "That was stupid."

Hinata lips curve into a smile. "You mean, the time you, Lee and Naruto threw popcorn on Gaara's head?"

"Yeah. He was so mad! Stupid retard chased us all the way back to school...I think Mr. Kakashi remembers that, he still gives me weird looks in class."

Hinata giggled. "You know, in the end Gaara stayed in his dorm and sulked until bedtime."

"Really? Sissy."

"Gaara i-isn't a sissy!" Hinata says indignantly, but giving herself by grinning reluctantly.

I guess he isn't...not as much as Naruto and Lee, at least.

We arrive at the upper building and turn right, into a walkway that overlooks the courtyard, where boys are playing basketball.

Hinata leans against the metal railing, and I do the same. We stare at the guys playing basketball, while I comment on how crap they play.

"And look, Kiba doesn't even know how to dribble." I remark derisively, as we watch him chase after the ball. Really, how stupid...

"I like Kiba. He seems nice." Hinata says softly.

"I guess..." I say vaguely. To be honest, I've never really spoken to Kiba before.

Not to say we're some sad and pathetic loser group. We...have our own friends.

Anyway, Gaara, Naruto, Hinata, Lee and I are all happy with our lives...at least I am, I don't give a crap about the others...okay, maybe I care a bit...

I'm just a naturally selfish person.

* * *

_In physics..._

Haha I'm done with all the work, yay...

I twirl my pen in my hand lackadaisically, watching the rest of the class. Mr. Asuma is sitting at the front of the classroom, and silence reigns.

Yeah...

I sigh and look out the window.

Wonder what movie we're watching tomorrow. Wait, do I have any homework? No...oh shit, there's that Math test on Monday! Oh whatever...free time is important and crap.

Suddenly something under the window catches my eye. I move my gaze lower and see Neji smiling at me, winking.

...what the hell?

I deliberately look away from him, but I still catch the smirk that comes to his lips.

Bastard. What the hell is his problem?

Okay, you probably don't know much about Neji, so I'll do a short introduction:

1.) His friends are Sakura, Ino, Temari and Sasuke. They're not together or anything, just friends. Basically because they're a bunch of rich people. Gaara and Hinata are technically the true heirs, but nobody really remembers because they're really quiet.

2.) He has a lot of girls wanting to go out with him.

3.) He has a lot of boys wanting to go out with him.

4.) He's had one girlfriend before. She left Japan within a week after they broke up.

5.) He's a genius-the best in every single class, prefect, SV, blah blah blah

6.) He's nice...I guess. Never rude to anyone, quiet, polite, helpful, considerate etc.

7.) He's in every single one of my classes.

I guess he's okay...he's the person I would choose to have a crush on. But my actual crush who I liked for eight years left two years ago, and I still notice every little thing that reminds me of him. He never told me how he felt about me, but he liked me. Gah whatever. He's gone forever now, sad, boohoo.

Hmm...maybe I should think about Neji more...a new crush would be funny.

God I'm so friggin' bored...why is the damn bell not-

**_Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding Dong_****_

* * *

_**

"I can't believe I did so crap! I mean c'mon, look, here I just forgot one tiny little number, how can he-"

"Naruto, you did crap. The end. Do better in the next test." I say to him, while finishing up my math homework.

Every night all of us stay in Hinata's and my dorm to talk and do random stuff. Tonight's Friday, so nobody is doing homework except me, because I've got so much fucking...

"That one's wrong, Tenten." Gaara frowns, looking over my shoulder. "You mistook Z for a 7."

"Seriously?!" Damnit...

"Lee, watch out for Tenten's knife!" Hinata cries, as Lee nearly steps on it.

"Shit Tenten, why do you keep that stuff lying around on the floor?" Gaara mutters, leaving me to go soothe a crying Lee.

It's not 'stuff''! I want to scream at him. My precious weapons collection is so much _more_ than...'stuff'.

Anyway...lets take a look at the room.

Naruto is sitting on my bed, leaning against the pillows, frowning down at a textbook. Lee is sitting on Hinata's bed, a few feet to the left of mine, hugging Hinata for saving his life, tears streaming down his face. And Gaara's trying to pry Lee off Hinata, because she's suffocating...

And me? I'm sitting at my desk like a good little nerd, doing math.

I look up at the clock. It's around nine thirty. Oh my God, I've been doing math for over an hour.

I abandon my books and go flop down on my bed next to Naruto.

"Whatcha reading?" I ask, looking up at the cover of his book.

"English..." He replies miserably. "Stupid language..."

"It's easy." I yawn, propping myself up on my pillows to see what he's reading.

"Twelfth Night?" I say, raising my eyebrows. Can Naruto even read that in Japanese?

"Mmhmm...have to write a damn essay..."

"I-I'll do it for you, if you want, Naruto." Hinata offers. Oh good. Gaara got Lee off her.

"Nah, it's okay, Hinata. I wanna try this 'make mistakes and learn from them' thing."

"Good luck, Naruto." I laugh, getting up.

"I'm gonna take a shower, guys." I call, as I waltz out of the room with my clothes and a towel.

_I've just seen a face I can't forget the time or place where we just met, she's just the girl for me and I want all the world to see we've met...Mmmmm... _I hum under my breath as I make my way to the bathroom.

As I turn the corner though, I bump into someone.

I look up, annoyed, to see who the hell it is.

Neji Hyuuga. Shirtless, wearing only a faded pair of jeans, long hair hanging perfectly at the side of his face.

Stop looking.

"Get the hell out of my way." I glare at him, pissed at myself for looking at him. Seriously, I thought I was above that.

"Why, you look wonderful tonight, Tenten." He says to me randomly.

Which I might believe, if not for the huge smirk he has plastered across his face.

"Fuck you." I have a reputation for my foul language...wonder why.

I shove him hard, and he stumbles back a few steps.

Haha, fucktard.

I stalk past him, saying "Weakling."

I can't see his reaction, because I'm already in front of him and I don't want to look back, in case he thinks I'm actually interested to see whether I hurt his feelings or not.

* * *

**Narrator**

_Neji shook his head and made his way back to the girls' dorm. The three girls were lying on the floor, around a pile of magazines. Sasuke was sitting next to Sakura, looking at a men's fashion magazine with her. _

_"Neji, put on a shirt." Temari said, rolling her eyes as he entered the room. _

_He took the shirt from her and pulled it over his head, saying "I ran into Tenten outside."_

_The four of them stopped what they were doing and looked up at him, surprised, and Ino gasped in delight. "What happened?"_

_"I told her she looked good." _

_"And she said?" She asked excitedly, eyes glinting with mischief. _

_"She told me to fuck off."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"..."_

_"...And then?"_

_"...She shoved me and went somewhere."_

_"A girl shoved you?" Sasuke said, arching an eyebrow. _

_"I let her shove me." Neji muttered. _

_"She's never going to like you if she thinks you're weak."_

_"I'll fix it tomorrow." He yawned._

_"This is gonna be so funny. I wonder what a love-struck Tenten is like." Sakura smirked. _

_"Of course, it'll only work if Neji actually manages to make the girl feel for him." Ino scoffed._

_"Are you implying something, my dear Ino?" Neji chuckled. _

_"We chose Tenten for a reason, Neji. She'll be a challenge for you."_

_Neji smirked. "You don't think I can do it?"_

_"Oh of course you can do it Neji. I just think it'll take longer than the last one. And will take much more effort on your part."_

_"The last one was a girl who had a whole circle of friends, good grades, and one of the richest fathers in Japan. How much harder can Tenten be?"_

_"Tayuya was desperate for attention from you, Neji. Tenten, on the other hand...wants you to go to hell."_

_"..."__

* * *

_**Thanks for reading, please review!**


	2. Hinata's Crush

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

"I'm not evil!"

"Yeah you are!" Naruto points at me accusingly. "You want all the animals in the world to die! You animal-hater!"

I sigh. "I want the animals to die because I love them, okay? I mean, don't you think it's better for them to live in paradise than suffer here on Earth?"

"If there really is a paradise." Gaara mutters.

That's ridiculous. Of course there's a paradise.

"You don't believe in heaven?" I ask him, arching my eyebrow.

"I don't believe in souls. It's just your brain that thinks for you. Souls don't exist."

"You're so unromantic, Gaara!" Lee cries. "Everyone has a soul."

"No they don't. When you die, you're dead. Your body is dead. There's no heaven-just six feet of soil above you."

"That's sad." Hinata says quietly. "Then we all have nothing to live for."

"Sure we do. There's money." Gaara shrugs.

"What about love?" Naruto challenges.

God, Naruto is an idiot. What is love without money?

"Love? I wouldn't know. I've never been loved." Gaara says blankly.

"Th-that's not true, Gaara." Hinata says, looking distressed. "Your siblings love you, and...and so do we."

We love Gaara? Okay...

"Yeah, we do!" Naruto agrees, nodding vigourously.

"Yes Gaara, you are our treasured friend!" Lee turns and looks at me expectantly.

"Oh right." I suddenly realize.

Stupid.

"Yeah, I love you too, Gaara." I say.

"Okay, I believe everyone except Tenten." Gaara smiles.

Hey...that's mean. I wasn't that fake.

And I do love Gaara. I love all my friends.

...I think.

We're sitting in the garden of a cafe we go to every Saturday, not too far away from school. It's really nice, not that big with green grass and rose bushes at the side. They're not that many tables, and only three are occupied right now, including ours. We always take the table near this weird fountain thing. Naruto and I are drinking hazelnut frappacinos, Gaara has a cappucino, and Hinata and Lee have hot chocolate. Lee thinks caffeine is bad for you, and says I'm addicted to it, which is bullshit. Everyone at school lives on caffeine.

Well, I guess we don't really need it at eleven in the morning, when we're just hanging out, but whatever.

"Hey, what are they doing here?" Naruto frowns, looking past my shoulder at the door that leads into the cafe.

I twist around in my seat and see Temari, Neji, Sakura, Sasuke and Ino come out into the garden.

What the hell are they doing here. They don't belong here.

They see us, and Hinata sends a small wave politely at her cousin, who nods back. Then, he winks at me.

...what the fuck?

I turn around, unable to help a small smile that comes to my face. Ugh. I need to wipe it off my face...

The others are staring at me strangely.

"What?" I ask.

"Did Neji Hyuuga just...wink at you?" Naruto asks disbelievingly.

I shrug. "Dunno."

"Aren't you even interested?" He says, confused. "I thought you said he was the guy you'd choose to have a crush on."

"Doesn't mean I do." I reply, irritated.

_'Keep your expectations low, and you won't be disappointed...'_

Now the cafe is filling up with Neji, Sakura, Sasuke, Temari and Ino's worshippers.

"I can't believe they actually stalked them all the way in here." Gaara mutters.

"I don't like them." Hinata says, as venomously as she can. "They-they only want Neji for his looks, not for who he is."

"Well, those idiot fans only want to go out with one of them to show off to their friends, don't they?" I laugh. "If their boyfriend or girlfriend was good-looking, everyone who saw them together would be jealous, because they wouldn't know about the problems in their relationship. If their boyfriend of girlfriend was ugly but the kindest person on Earth...well, that's nice, but nobody would envy them. They only want to be envied. And popular too, of course."

"You seem to understand them very well, Tenten." Gaara chuckles. "What would you prefer? Good looks but no heart, or ugly and kind?"

"The good-looking jerk." I say immediately. What? Oh, surprise surprise, I'm also a selfish greedy human being.

"I want a girl who's nice _and_ good-looking." Lee muses thoughtfully. "They exist, don't they?"

"Yeah, in utopia." I snort. "Look, the ugly ones are only kind because there's no other way they can get people to like them. The pretty ones don't have to be nice because people are drawn to them by their looks alone."

"...you really know how to crush someone's hopes, Tenten."

"Thank you."

* * *

Oh yes, we're finally getting our chemistry papers back!

Shit, I hope I did okay...

"Tenten..." Asuma mumbles, placing my paper upside down on my desk before giving Sakura (who sits next to me in chemistry) hers.

I take a deep breath and turn mine over.

Yes! Ninety-seven percent!

"What did you get?" Sakura asks me, frowning.

"A star." She should've gotten one too...in this school, anything lower than an A is disgraceful. That applies to everybody.

"Me too." Her face suddenly changes into a smug expression. "Ninety-eight percent."

Oh damn. I won't mention mine now...

"So class, that was a very well done test. The whole class got A stars, which I am very pleased about." Asuma says. "The best in the class were Sakura, Ino, Tenten and Sakuno."

The rest of the class applauds politely, and I grin smugly. Haha, you stupid little worms, I didn't even study for this test and I've got the best mark in the class...one of them, anyway.

"So, can any of you girls tell us what methods you used to obtain such a high mark?" Asuma suddenly asks.

Sakura smiles and giggles. "Of course, the way everyone gets a good grade-I studied for hours!"

You know, in reality, Sakura forgot all about the test until the lesson before it...

"Well, it paid off, didn't it? And you, Tenten?"

Oops. "Uh...yeah. I studied a lot."

If I hadn't said that, I would've lost the respect of the whole class.

Asuma nods proudly and goes on to rant about how proud he is of all of us anyway, no matter how well we did, and blah blah blah.

Quite unintentionally, I notice Sakura scribbling on a piece of scrap paper. She balls it up, glances at Asuma to make sure his back is turned, and throws it to Ino, who opens it up and giggles.

Sakura places her chin on her hand with a satisfied smirk, her eyes still on Ino. Her perfectly manicured nails tap on the table with the other hand, before she lifts it to delicately place a stray strand of bubble-gum pink hair back behind her ear.

What kinda hair colour is that anyway? It sucks.

The bell suddenly rings, and everybody scrambles to pack up and get out of the classroom.

* * *

"Hey, you know the one-child policy? Is it good or bad?" Naruto asks, not looking up from his book.

"Sh, idiot, we're in a library!" Gaara hisses.

"You shouldn't insult our youthful friend so much, Gaara. It hurts his feelings." Lee whispers.

Gaara rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything.

"Hey, so is it good or bad?"

"Well, there's no right or wrong answer to that, Naruto," Hinata says to him, "but you have to give full reasons, whichever you choose."

"...I hate doing that!"

"Sh!" Gaara and I both hiss at him.

There's a few moments silence.

Phew.

"Hey, who do you think matches up with Lee best?" Naruto asks randomly.

What the hell? How did he get from the one-child policy to here?

Lee is thinking deeply. "Hm...I choose...Temari."

Gaara looks up immediately, a shocked expression on his face. "My sister?" He says in disbelief.

Lee nods. "She's quite pretty, smart, and accomplished. And, of course, she is very kind and warm-hearted."

Gaara just blinks at him before shaking his head pityingly and going back to his work.

"Okay...so who matches up with Hinata?" Naruto asks.

Hinata's face tuns red in a deep blush. This conversation is actually getting quite interesting.

"I dunno...nobody's really nice enough to match up with her." I frown.

"Yeah...hey, Hinata, who do you like?"

If possible, her face turns an even deeper shade of red. "Um...um..."

"So you do like someone! Tell me, tell me!" Naruto says excitedly.

"You there! Shush!" The librarian reprimands.

"Who is it?" Naruto whispers loudly. "C'mon, we're your best friends, right? You can tell us!"

Hinata shakes her head furiously. "I-I d-d-d-on't like any...anyone!"

Gaara's lips turn upwards in amusement. "You really are the worst liar, Hinata."

"Don't pressure her." Lee scolds us. "She'll tell us if she wants."

"Yeah, but then we'd never know." I argue.

"Sasuke." Escapes from Hinata's lips.

Our heads all whip around to stare at her.

"_Sasuke_?" Naruto yelps.

"Shush!" The librarian hisses at us again.

Hinata nods timidly.

Can someone's face really be that red?

"What do you like about him! He's a complete jerk! He...he..." Naruto frowns. "He sucks at math!"

...yeah, great Naruto.

"I-I think he's wonderful. His eyes are so mysterious, and-and he always has an air of dignity around him..." Hinata trails off, too embarrassed to continue.

"...right." Gaara coughs.

For some reason, Naruto's looking really miserable.

Why?

Why?

Why?

"So, who pairs up with Tenten?" Lee asks, not looking up from his work.

"She likes Neji." Gaara smirks.

What the hell?!

"I don't." I frown at him.

"So you're still pining over Sai?"

Why that little...

"No, I'm not, okay? I don't like anyone." My voice is almost a growl.

"Whatever you say, Tenten." He still has that annoying smirk on his face.

"Yes, it is whatever I say." I reply haughtily, finishing off my essay.

"So, according to you, you don't like Neji, and you've forgotten all about Sai?"

"Yes, nice to know that you've finally got it."

"I saw you smiling when he winked at you." He's deliberately avoiding my gaze now, snickering behind his textbook.

"I was not." I think I can hear a book fall onto the floor somewhere, but more importantly, why am I going all giggling all of a sudden? Why can't I wipe this stupid, stupid smile off my face?

"You're smiling now."

The others look up at my face, and to my horror, I let out a small giggle.

Gaara chuckles lowly.

That's it.

"I DON'T LIKE NEJI!" I roar at him, suddenly on my feet.

"Whoa, Tenten, I never thought you'd be the type to go in denial." Gaara snickers.

"Okay, that's it! You five, get out of here!" The librarian yells at us.

We hastily gather our belongings and run out of the library.

"Aw Tenten, you got us kicked out of the library." Naruto whines. "I needed a book."

"Go back in and get it, then." I growl at him, although I can already feel my anger subsiding.

I find Neji attractive. I don't...I don't_ like_ him.

* * *

**Narrator**

_Temari, Sasuke and Neji looked up as the two girls approached them. _

_They sat down gracefully on the grass next to their friends. Sakura began excitedly, "I think it's working. She's cracking. You should've seen her in the library." The pink-haired girl giggled. _

_"You nearly gave us away when you dropped that book, forehead girl." Ino said testily. _

_"That's it? It took even less work than Tayuya." Neji commented, looking at Ino, who exhaled in scorn. "You've still got a long way to go, Neji. Tenten isn't that shallow."_

_"Oh really?"_

_"Yes, really. Only girls know other girls, isn't that true, Temari?"_

_"Very true." The tall girl agreed, smirking. "Besides, my brother wouldn't make friends with the shallow type."_

_"Tenten's going to be quite amusing, isn't she? Even more so than Tayuya and Karin."_

_"Karin was pretty funny." Sakura laughed. "I remember she tried to kiss Sasuke, missed and fell forward onto her face."_

_"She was an idiot, that girl. I was, however, expecting her to leave this school once you had thrown her away, Sasuke," Ino said, arching an eyebrow at Sasuke._

_"Karin? She's still here? Never noticed." He yawned. "She's the same as all the other ones."_

_"Oh come now, Sasuke." Temari chuckled. "After all, you've only been in charge once."_

_"I kept the four of you entertained, didn't I?"_

_"Yes, but we returned the favour."_

_"And now it's Neji's turn again." Ino sighed. "Time flies when you're having fun, don't you agree, Neji."_

_Neji nodded, looking out over the lake. "It would be much faster if I just picked a girl out of my many fans. It's impossible that any of them would refuse if I asked."_

_"Ah yes, but Neji, that takes all the fun out of it, doesn't it?" Ino's blue eyes glittered. _

_"Hn. I'm not very enthusiastic about Tenten, to be honest. True, she's smart, but she isn't...the prettiest girl we could choose."_

_"Oh Neji, don't be like that." Ino giggled. "Every girl is beautiful in her own way."_

_"Yeah right." Sakura sniggered. "Hey, lets have Sasuke go after one of Tenten's friends at the same time."_

_Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, but he made no sound of protest._

_"Her only female friend is Hinata, Sakura. I doubt that Neji would allow Sasuke anywhere near her."_

_"Temari's right." Neji growled. "I can't let you near my cousin, Sasuke. My uncle would give me hell if you broke her, even if you are an Uchiha."_

_"And your conscience, Neji? Would it remain clear?" Ino asked, leaning forward, her chin on her hand. _

_There was a slight pause "Unequivocally." He replied. "I have never felt anything but scorn for my eldest cousin. She is absolutely unfit to take over her father's business. She's taking-" Neji stopped abruptly and looked off into the distance. _

_"Hinata admires you greatly." Temari stated. _

_Neji exhaled derisively. "Hinata has never seen my, shall we say, 'true colours'." He was smirking now._

_"You're proud of what you've done, Neji?" Sakura asked quietly. _

_"Aren't you?" He shot back at her. _

_There was a brief silence. _

_"Of course. We are all proud of what we've done."_

* * *

**I was editing this, then I got bored, so it's a little better...I'll make more changes when I feel like it...**


	3. Christmas Shopping

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

I take a sip on my coffee, picking up a letter from my pile.

"Hey Tenten, pass the ketchup." Naruto says.

"Get it yourself." I frown, reading the envelope.

"Aw, you're so mean Tenten! Hinata, can you pass me the ketchup?"

"H-here you are, Naruto."

"Thanks!"

"Naruto! You don't need that much ketchup on your sausages!"

This letter's from Grams, right? Ooooh, I hope she packed some cash...

Sure enough, as I open the envelope, several bills come flooding out.

I unfold the letter and read it.

_Darling Tenten, _

_It's nice to know that you're doing well at school. I've sent some money for Christmas. Your grandfather sends you his best wishes; he's redecorating your room for you, so you'll have something to look forward to when you come home in summer. _

_Are you eating properly? You'll never be healthy if your diet is made up of coffee alone! Are your living conditions alright? If something's wrong, you know I'll always write a letter to the headmaster for you, okay? I talked to Hiashi the other day, and he said that his nephew, Neji, loves the school! Tenten, whenever you have time, go talk to Neji, alright? Who knows what might happen...!_

_Now, I want you to take this part seriously. Your mother is worried sick about you. She says you never reply to any of her letters. Tenten, no matter what you think of her, she's your mother. Promise me that you'll write her this week. _

_Keep doing well at school, and remember to buy those nice friends of yours some Christmas presents. Put the money away now before you lose it, Tenten. _

_Remember to write to your mother!_

_Love,_

_Grams_

The hell??? Grams is retarded...'talk to Neji, who knows what might happen!' Yeah right...why don't you just say 'get married!'

Sigh...oh well. She always was a ridiculously optimistic person.

Write to my mom? I thought she_ knew_ we have issues!!!

I open my next letter, which, coincidentally, is from my mother.

I scan the contents, fold it up and place it under the rim of my plate. Stupid mom...stupid dad...

"Tenten, we should get to music." Lee says to me, standing up.

"Right." I get to my feet, swinging my bag onto my shoulders.

"Tenten, would you like to walk to class with me?" I turn around and see Neji standing there, smiling at me.

"No thanks," I mumble, avoiding his gaze for some unknown reason, "Lee, lets go." I practically drag him out of the dining hall, while Neji sits down in my seat and starts talking to Hinata.

* * *

"What was that?" Lee asks as we walk to music room. 

"Dunno..." I mumble.

"Does he like you?"

"No!" I answer at once. "He doesn't. I...I don't know what he's trying to do, but he doesn't like me, that's for sure."

I know he doesn't like me. I'm not going to delude myself...

"Be careful, Tenten. You should try and avoid him."

"Yeah, that's really easy, considering that he's in all of my classes." I retort.

"Ah well. Everything will work out in the end, will it not?" Lee grins.

"I guess..."

It just better be in my favour.

* * *

"Hey Hinata, lets go Christmas shopping next weekend." I say to her as we walk out of geography. 

"It's only Monday, Tenten." She smiles. "But okay, lets go."

"Cool! Then we'll-"

"Excuse me, did I hear you two saying you were going Christmas shopping?" We turn around to see who it is.

Oh. Sakuno. She's basically...I don't know, the leader of Neji's fans? Something like that...when she isn't studying, all she does is concentrate on Neji. She's nice enough, I suppose.

"Yeah, we did." I flash a smile at her.

Do not say you want to come with us...

"Oh okay, in case you want to know, this year we're collecting presents that people want to give to Neji. We're gonna sneak into his room and put them in there on Christmas Day. Anyway, do you wanna sign up?"

I think by 'we' she's referring to her other creepy stalker friends.

Anyway, sign up for what? To sneak into his room or give him presents?

"To give him presents?" I ask.

"Yeah!" She holds out a pen and a clipboard towards me. "We're gonna collect them on Christmas Eve, or you can bring them to us anytime before Christmas."

I cannot put my name on that list. Anyone who sees it will...

"Please?" She pouts, seeing my hesitation.

Hinata nudges me encouragingly.

"Okay, fine." I sigh, scribbling my name and dorm number down. "No guarantees though."

Sakuno nods happily. "Okay! Hinata, do you want to?"

"N-no thanks...I'll give him a present myself." Hinata forces a smile to her face.

"Okay, no problem! And if you want to give a present to Sasuke, you'll have to find Tomoko."

"Got it." I nod.

"Alright then, see you!" She waves and disappears around the corner.

"Hey so, Hinata, wanna go find Tomoko?" I tease.

"Tenten!" She blushes.

"Fine, fine." I laugh. There's no way in hell that Hinata would voluntarily go up to Tomoko and sign up.

"Hey guys!" We turn around and see Naruto running towards us.

"Hey, Naruto!" I say cheerfully.

"Hi, Naruto." Hinata smiles.

"Was there any bio homework?" He asks as we walk towards the lab.

"Yeah...the write-up." He didn't do it.

Sure enough, his eyes grow wide. "Shit! I didn't do it! Wah, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?!!!"

"Detention." I shrug. "Sad."

"You're so mean, Tenten! Wah!!!"

"C-calm down, Naruto..."

* * *

_In the evening..._

I lean on the tree, watching Naruto try to skip stones on the surface of the lake, which is reflecting the setting sun. Hinata is standing next to him, trying to adjust the angle of his arm. Lee and Gaara are sitting on the grassy bank, talking about math formulae.

And I'm just standing here, a few feet away, watching the scene. It's rare that it's ever so peaceful.

Suddenly I notice a group of people walking not too far away form us. I turn to see who they are.

Oh. Neji, Sasuke, Temari, Sakura and Ino. Huh.

I'm not deliberately looking away from them. I'm just...watching the sunset.

Damn. I can still hear snippets of their conversation, no matter how hard I try to block them out.

"...yeah, she's cute." Neji's voice carries to my ears. "I like her."

Who?

This is ridiculous. I shouldn't even be listening. I shake my head vigorously, as if I'm trying to get water out of my ears.

"Tenten?" Ino's voice this time. "You like her?"

"I...I think...I think I love her, Ino."

Oh God...is he seriously...

_'People lie, Tenten.'_

...my dad really drilled those stupid teachings into me.

Although...

_'Don't trust anyone but yourself, okay? Not even me...if you do, you'll get hurt, Tenten, I promise you that.'_

If for some weird reason...he wants me to believe that he likes me...but for what? There's no reason.

Neji's little group has stopped innocently near me, whispering so loudly that I know I'm supposed to hear.

"If you love her, Neji, you should tell her." Temari giggles.

"What if she rejects me?" I can clearly hear the mockery in his voice.

"She won't! You love her, right? Love conquers all." Sakura puts in.

"Perhaps she returns your feelings." Ino says. "Maybe she'll walk over here voluntarily."

"I hope so." Neiji replies.

There's a pause.

I know what they want me to do.

I've never known them to be so...conniving, condescending...

Are they really?

Could it be true?

They're not the type to do this...

_'If it seems suspicious to you, Tenten, walk away...'_

I push myself off the tree and walk quickly towards my friends. "Lets go back up to the school, it's getting cold."

"Not really, Tenten." Gaara frowns.

"Please?" I say desperately. I need to get out of here...

"Lets go, Gaara. We don't want Tenten to catch a cold." Lee says. Yes, I love you Lee...

Gaara sighs. "Fine. Naruto, Hinata, we're leaving!"

The other two nod, and together we walk back up to the school. I don't even glance in Neji's direction as we walk away.

* * *

_Shopping..._

"Hey Hinata, d'you think Gaara would like this eyeliner?" I say thoughtfully, looking at it sceptically. Gaara's always whining about how his eyeliner looks crap.

"Um...um..." Hinata mumbles helplessly. "I...I think so, Tenten."

"Cool, okay, lets go pay."

She nods, and we walk towards the cashier. As we stand in line though, I see Ino and Neji walk towards us.

"Hinata, stand on the left of me." I hiss.

She looks at me confusedly, but I just shove her to where I want her to stand.

Please don't let them see me, please don't let them see me...

"Tenten, it's our turn to pay." Hinata says softly.

I look up, embarrassed. Of course I knew it was our turn.

I place the eyeliner on the counter along with some new foundation and blush for myself. Hinata buys some new skin lotion and eye shadow.

"Okay, lets go." I practically push Hinata out of the shop.

As we walk through the snowy town, Hinata asks me "Was...was something wrong, Tenten?"

"Um...I just saw Ino and Neji in there." This is weird. It's usually Hinata who blushes.

"Ah..." I can tell she understands I don't want to talk about it.

We walk in comfortable silence, watching the little kids run around, pelting snowballs at each other, retarded carolers, and idiots making snowmen.

"I love Christmas." Hinata says, smiling, her white eyes soft.

"Mmm...I've always thought it was a rather stupid holiday. I only like it because we get time off school and presents."

She giggles. "Surely you also feel the happiness and love in the air? Look at those children, aren't they adorable?"

"This is the list of things I hate: Old people, stupid people, and _little kids_." I retort. I hate children. They're so small and tiny and innocent...it makes me sick.

"You shouldn't hate so many people, Tenten. Loving is a much better feeling." Hinata says.

"They don't love me, why should I love them?"

"They don't hate you, either."

I shrug. "Hating is easier."

"Really? I don't agree."

"You've never hated anyone in your whole life, Hinata." I laugh, as we walk into a shop.

She smiles ruefully. "I've never found the need to."

"Yeah well, I have."

Hinata nods, curious, but not rude enough to pry.

"I think Naruto would like this." She says, holding up an orange sweater.

"Yeah, he'd love it. Nice and horribly orange." I grin at her.

Oooh, look at those.

"Do you think Lee would like these?" I hold up a pair of orange leg warmers.

Hinata's eyes widen, and she bursts out laughing. "Yes." She says, in between gasps. "He'd love them."

"Tenten, I insist on paying for you." A deep voice comes from behind me.

I don't even need to turn around to know who it is.

"Hello, Neji." Hinata greets him politely.

"Hi, Hinata. So, Tenten, my offer?"

I turn to face him, and see, to my embarrassment, that Ino is standing there behind him, smirking.

"Fuck you Neji." I spit at him, before pushing past him to go pay. "C'mon Hinata, lets go."

Hinata's standing here, looking shocked.

"Hinata!" I urge. She immediately snaps back to life.

"Please forgive her Neji, she didn't mean it." She apologizes to her cousin before following me.

"What did you do that for? I did mean it?!!!" I hiss at her.

"S-sorry, Tenten..." She trails off, looking at the ground. "B-but...I don't know...Neji never acts that way."

"That's because for some stupid reason, he's suddenly picked me for his sick and twisted game." I retort.

"What game?" She frowns.

"I don't know...look, forget it, lets just go pay."

She nods silently and follows me to the counter, deep in thought.

* * *

**Narrator**

_"Well, that was amusing." Ino had a predatory smile on her face, as she watched Tenten and Hinata waltz out of the shop. _

_"She's not stupid, that girl." Neji murmured thoughtfully._

_"Nobody is stupid, Neji. Tayuya and the others just believed in what they wanted to be true."_

_"And you don't think Tenten wants this to be true?" Neji asked, arching an eyebrow in a silent challenge._

_"What do you think, Neji?" Ino tilted her head, watching her friend intently. _

_"Oh she wants it to be true all right. That's what Tayuya was like at the beginning as well. She'll pass that stage."_

_"Hopefully faster than I expect."_

_"Are you giving me a time limit?"_

_Ino eyes gleamed. "Would you agree to one week, starting from tomorrow?"_

_"That would be more than enough time. By next Monday, Tenten will already be my girlfriend."_

_"Oh don't call them girlfriends, Neji. For this purpose, they're called toys."_

_"That name sounds as if we want to actually sleep with them." Neji snorted. _

_"Fine. Then comedy shows, entertainment, amusement. Whatever you want to call them."_

_"Whatever you call them, they're an effective way of relieving me of my tedium." Neji smirked. "We need to thank Temari for coming up with it."_

_The two friends laughed and walked out of the shop together. _


	4. First Two Days of the Time Limit

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Hey Tenten, quit working and come talk about mindless crap with us." Naruto calls over to me from the floor of my dorm. Lee, Naruto and Gaara basically wander in here every night after dinner. Right now they're all sitting in a circle on the floor with Hinata, talking about...well, crap.

Why the hell would I want to talk about mindless crap? I'm too tired to.

"No, I have to finish this write-up."

"Do you need some help, oh youthful flower?" Lee says brightly.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT! And no, I don't need your help."

"You're always studying these days, Tenten." Gaara yawns. "Relax."

"Why don't you guys study? We've got tests next week." I say distractedly, mentally running through my list of tests. Today's Monday, so I have eight days to study for my-_Ah!_

Naruto and Lee suddenly yank me out of my chair and _drag_ me onto the floor next to Gaara and Hinata.

Yes, _drag_.

"What the hell!" I yell at them once they let go of me. Gaara and Hinata are snickering quietly and Naruto and Lee are grinning triumphantly.

"Okay, now, Tenten. We'll start with you. What is your favourite colour?" Naruto asks me.

What the...of all the random...

Fine. Might as well play along with their stupid, _stupid_ game.

"Blood red." I mutter.

"Okay, what is your favourite food?"

"Roasted goose liver, or abalone."

Naruto pulls a face before continuing. "What is your biggest dream?"

"To get A stars in everything and get into medical school, which is why I have to go back and study now, instead of playing this pointless game." I say, getting up. But Lee pulls me back down.

"We haven't even played for five minutes yet, Tenten!" He pouts.

Oh don't look at me like that...

"Okay, okay, fine."

"What do you look for in a guy? And you can't say 'good-looking jerk'. We're assuming that all guys in the world are good-looking." As Naruto finishes, the other three lean in slightly.

...this is creepy...

Plus, I have no idea what to say.

"Do I really have to answer this?" I moan. "Next question please."

"Aw c'mon Tenten! Just answer it and we'll let you go!"

Really?

"...I want to marry a billionaire, okay, bye!"

But before I can even try to stand up, Naruto holds me down. "Tenten!" He whines. "Answer seriously! Please?"

"I did!"

"No, c'mon, elaborate! I'll let you go if you do!"

Oh for God's sake...

"Fine." I let out a deep breath. God this is embarrassing..."I...I dunno, I'm...weird...I want a guy who respects me...and you know...little things...open the car door for me, pull the chair out for me when I sit down...someone who'd remember my birthday and our anniversary...take me to my favourite restaurant on dates..." I say dreamily, forgetting momentarily about my friends listening to my crap. "Someone who'll love me and never look in any other direction...and understand all the crap about me, like how I hate loud noises...yeah..." I trail off, remembering where I am.

Oh shit. I can't believe I just ranted on about all that crap...

The others are staring at me, with unreadable expressions on their faces.

Then Lee lets out a huge sniff.

"Tenten!" He sobs. "That is so romantic!"

Then I notice that Naruto's scribbling furiously on a clipboard.

"Hey Naruto! What the hell are you doing!" I shriek, jumping at him.

"Nothing!" He says, darting back, clutching the clipboard to his chest.

...whatever. Probably writing down what I said to blackmail me later or something.

"Fine. I'm getting back to my work." I get up with a sigh and sit down at my desk.

But for some reason, I don't pay any attention to my work. I rest my chin on my hand and stare dreamily out at the stars...

Stupid.

Suddenly someone knocks on the door, and everyone turns around to face it.

"Oh yeah, thanks for staring at the door." I say sarcastically to them as I walk past them to open it.

Neji is standing there, long hair loose behind his back, wearing a black jacket, shirt and jeans. And with the hugest smirk in the world on his face...

"Tenten." He greets me. "Would you mind coming out for a walk with me?"

The hell I will.

"Yes, I do. Now, if you will excuse me," I try to shut the door, but he blocks it with his foot.

"Really, I just want to talk." He says. I can't see his face to see whether he's lying because it's on the other side of the damn door.

But I don't need to check with his face to know he is.

"I don't want to talk. I'm busy." I growl, pushing the door.

All of a sudden Lee grabs me around the waist and pulls me back, and Gaara pulls the door open.

"Tenten would love to go on a walk with you." Gaara says, as Lee practically kicks me out of my own dorm.

Damn you!

Neji nods. "Thank you."

I try to go back in, but Lee and Gaara have already slammed the door closed.

"Bring her back before midnight!" Naruto calls through the door.

Why that little...

"Tenten, as long as you're out here, why don't we go for a short walk?"

"No. Get the hell away from me."

"Fine, I'll talk here." I look up at his face, and see, with a shock, that his smirk has been replaced by a sincere expression.

"I really like you Tenten, and...I was wondering...whether you would like to go out with me tomorrow night."

He doesn't look like he's lying.

But...he _has_ to be.

Okay, weighing my options.

If I say yes, and it actually is a date, they yay and whatever. But if it's a joke...I'll be a laughing stock. I'll be humiliated.

If I say no, I get to keep my dignity, and if he really likes me he'll probably ask again anyway.

Unless he gets discouraged...

If I say yes, and stand him up...

No. That's worse than saying no.

But _if_ it's a joke...

Do I really like Neji?

God, I can feel another headache coming...

"No." I say finally. Shit I hope that was quick enough... "Leave me alone Neji."

I push open the door to my dorm, and slam it.

The other four are looking up at me curiously.

I shake my head slowly and walk back to my desk.

* * *

_Next morning..._

I'm walking with Naruto to the dining hall for breakfast. They guys basically spent the night in our dorm, and when Naruto and I had woken up, we realized that the others were already at breakfast.

Bastards...

"Hey so, what did Neji say?" Naruto asks after I yawn hugely. I could barely get any sleep last night...

"I told him to fuck off." I say shortly.

"Well duh, of course you did, but what did _he_ say?"

I look down at the floor, counting my steps for a while. After five steps, I look up and see Naruto's worried blue eyes gazing at me.

"He didn't say much." I say at last. "He...he asked me out, and I said no." I lift my head. "Of course, I knew it was a joke."

"He asked you out?!" Naruto's eyes light up with excitement.

"...I said no."

"What?! Why! I bet it wasn't a joke!"

"It was, Naruto. Like Neji would actually ask me out..." I say wearily, pushing open the door of the dining hall.

We walk in and walk straight to our usual table in the corner, but halt when we see Neji and Sasuke occupying our seats.

What the hell?

Get out of my seat you fucking, scheming, twisted...

"Good morning Tenten." He says politely.

"Morning. Get out of my seat." I glare at him.

"Hey, idiot." This is the kind of greeting Naruto gets from Sasuke.

"You bastard! Get the hell outta my chair!" Naruto yells at him. Yay, go Naruto...

"Okay, okay...peace?" Sasuke offers his hand to Naruto, standing up.

My stupid blond friend grudgingly takes his hand out of his pocket and shakes it. What the hell is he thinking? And what's with the sudden offer of peace? It's so...random. Like everything else Sasuke and Neji do, I guess...

"Neji. Please. Leave." I grind out through my teeth.

"I was just saying good morning to my cousin, no need to get so angry," he smirks, "well, have a nice breakfast Tenten. I'll see you in Chemistry." He gets up and leads Sasuke back to their usual table in the middle of the dining hall. Suddenly, after three steps, he turns around and says "my offer is still open you know. Find me when you reconsider." He flashes a dazzling Neji Hyuuga smile at me before waltzing away, basking in the stares of his 'fans'.

"I hate him." I mutter as I sit down.

"You shouldn't hate people my youthful flower! Hating is bad for the youth, isn't it so, Hinata?" Lee cries.

Hinata nods timidly under my glare.

"Well, at least you'll be having fun in Chemistry." Gaara says.

I give him my Glare of Death™.

* * *

As the bell signals the end of Chemistry, I quickly shove my books in my bag and get up, not wanting to be stopped by Neji and his friends on the way out. 

"Wait, Tenten." Ino, who sits next to me, grabs onto my arm. I glare at her fiercely. "Get off." I growl.

"No need to be so touchy. Neji merely wishes to speak with you." Her perfectly painted lips are turned up in a sweet smile, her words coming out in snobby rich bitch way.

"And if I don't want to speak with him?" I say, shrugging her carefully manicured hand off.

"I could care less about what you want, I suppose." She says maliciously. Then, a remorseful looks overcomes her smug features.

"Please forgive me for that, Tenten. I would like to be on good terms with you, as you are going to be my best friend's girlfriend after all."

"I'm not going to be his girlfriend, please make sure he gets that message." I say to her with icy formality, pushing past.

"Why?" I hear her sneering voice behind me. "Are you going to get any better offers than Neji?"

Bitch.

I slam the door behind me as I stalk out of the classroom.

Suddenly, I hear it being flung open and someone's footsteps running after me.

Unconsciously I break into a sprint, and race down the corridor and around the corner, before darting up the stairs.

"Wait, Tenten!" I hear Neji calling from behind me. "Tenten!"

I...need...to...run...faster...

I can't believe the jerk is actually _chasing_ me.

"Get the hell away from me!" I roar over my shoulder before increasing my pace, dashing past surprised students.

"I just want to talk!"

Damn, I'm on the top floor. No more stairs...

Quickly, I turn into a corridor and run down that, aiming for the stairwell at the other end of the school. I don't know what my plan is, but I have a vague image of us running down one stairwell, along the corridor, up the other stairwell, along the corridor and down again...

No way in hell. My stamina is already very low. I'm gonna collapse soon.

Neji, on the other hand, is on the fucking cross-country team.

I hate the guy...

I'm already slowing down, gasping for breath. Damn, I lost...

I feel Neji's hand on my shoulder but I don't turn around. I'm bent double, wheezing and gasping...

In front of Neji. How humiliating.

"Tenten, breathe slowly, in, out, in, out."

Yeah, I really never learnt how to breathe. Bastard.

"Okay, since I have you like this." I can hear the triumph and poorly concealed mockery in his voice. "I'll talk." I can't see his face, because I'm still clutching my side and staring down at the floor. Ow, ow, ow, I have a stitch...

"Tenten, I really, really like you, and I was hoping that you'd come to dinner with me tonight."

I take in a deep breath an say as firmly as I can while I'm wheezing, "no."

"You won't even consider it?"

"No. Go away."

"Please Tenten I...I really-"

"Shut the hell up Neji," My strength has suddenly returned to me out of my anger, my whole frame is shaking. "Leave me the hell ALONE!"

Shit, I can't let him see how angry I am, how much he's affected me. It'll only give him the satisfaction-

My thoughts are cut off as an expression of genuine sorrow overtakes his features.

"I'm sorry, Tenten." He says quietly, his head bowed. "I shouldn't have done that, please forgive me."

...oh yeah right. We're all good actors when we have to be.

"Go to hell Neji." I spit at him, before turning on my heel and walking away as quickly as I can.

* * *

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, frowning in thought. 

Why is Neji paying attention? It's impossible that he really wants me for his girlfriend, so that option's gone...is it a bet? To see how long it takes for him to get to me?

Could be...

Fuck I hate him...maybe I should go stab him or something, that'll be fun...

Ugh, I've already gotten him a Christmas present, what a waste...

Maybe I'll just give it to him anyway, I mean, it's gonna be anonymous, so he won't know it's from me...

Yeah, I'll just give it to him, since I've bought it anyway. Save the environment and crap.

* * *

**Narrator**

_"I think I'm making progress." Neji said airily to Temari as they walked down the corridor, arms laden with books. _

_"Really?" Temari said skeptically, raising her eyebrows. "How do you know?"_

_"I'm starting to make her more emotional now. Now if I can make those emotions positive..."_

_"Good luck with that, Neji." Temari laughed. "What if you don't meet Ino's deadline?"_

_A shadow passed briefly over Neji's face, but was quickly replaced by a confident smirk. "I'll meet it. Definitely."_

_Temari felt slightly uneasy at her friend's tone, but chose to ignore it.

* * *

_

**Thanks for the reviews everyone, sorry I forgot to update yesterday!**

**This is the last pre-written chapter, so the next one may take some time (these 4 chapters were written some time ago...)**

**Anyway, please leave a review!**


	5. Blackmail

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

I slam my locker shut and turn around, to come face to face with Neji Hyuuga.

Damn. How the hell did he sneak up on me like that? I didn't even hear him. It must be practiced ease. Huh. Stalker.

"What do you want, Neji?" I ask wearily, walking past him down the corridor to get to my next lesson. Our next lesson.

"I just...wanted to walk with you, Tenten."

My head whips around at his quiet voice. His head is bent slightly, his perfect waterfall of black hair curtaining the faint pink blush on his cheeks. It'd be very realistic, if not for the slightest smirk at the corner of his mouth. I guess he can't will that away, no matter how good he is at acting. Good for me.

"Go away Neji, I don't want to walk with you." I pick up my pace slightly. There isn't really anywhere else for either of us to go, now that I think about it...we're both headed to the same classroom, and we've already passed the stairs.

"Please Tenten, wait." He matches my stride, and walks alongside me. "I really want to get to know you."

"I don't give a shit about you Neji, go the hell away!"

I hear him sigh in frustration, and feel a triumphant smirk come to my own lips. Ha.

There's silence, except for the sound of our footsteps as we continue walking to the lab. I wonder whether he's given up.

Suddenly his head jerks up, and he looks at me with honest curiousity.

"What is it about me you don't like?" He asks me straight out, taking me by surprise. He's not acting anymore, I realize with slight shock.

Never mind. Open mouth. Now.

"Everything." I answer automatically.

He makes an impatient noise. "No, I mean really. Am I not good enough for you?"

"Yes, that's exactly it." I roll my eyes. Like I would actually bother coming up with an excuse for this bastard...

"I'm good-looking, popular, educated, athletic, and rich. What am I missing?"

"Honesty." I snap at him. "And anyway, I'm not looking for anyone at the moment. Why don't you try your luck with another girl?"

Not that you'll actually need luck, you perfect freak...I mean come on, who looks for honesty in a guy anymore? I just said that for the sake of answering.

"I want to try with you." He says in a condescending tone.

I roll my eyes, but don't reply as I push open the door to the lab. "Sorry I'm late." I mutter to Tsunade, emphasizing the single pronoun.

She waves for me to sit down, and carries on with the lesson.

I collapse into my chair, not bothering to take my books out. Ha, I have a whole bench all to myself, because I'm such a genius I don't need an idiot lab partner...okay fine, we have an odd number of people in our class, and I got stuck here. Whatever. I'm still a genius.

I watch silently as Neji says something to Tsunade, smiling graciously. She nods stupidly, under his spell. I don't blame her. If I didn't know what a two-faced jerk he was, I'd also be like that.

Neji starts walking away from Tsunade, a triumphant look on his face. That's weird...he's walking towards me.

_Oh no, he is **not**_...

I can only glare as he sets his books down next to me, and takes the seat next to mine.

"What the hell are you doing!" I hiss at him, aware that the whole class is watching us.

"The teacher thought it'd be a nice experiment to see how I work with you." He says to me innocently. "I hope that's no problem?"

I look up helplessly at Tsunade, who snaps "something wrong, Tenten?"

"No..." I reply sullenly. Bitch.

"So Tenten, go out with me?" He smiles with feigned innocence, as soon as Tsunade turns back to the board.

"No."

"Please?"

"Go to hell."

"I'll do anything."

"Go fuck yourself."

"So, this Friday then?"

"What part of 'no' do you not freaking understand!" I hiss at him loudly in exasperation. "I will never go out with you! You're a two-faced bastard who has no respect for any other human being besides yourself, and is not even interested in me! Why would I _ever_ humiliate myself and go out with you!"

Neji blinks. "Not even if I buy you things?"

I roll my eyes. "No."

His face clouds for a second, before he regains his composure once again. He turns away from me and raises his hand.

"Ms. Tsunade, please excuse Tenten and me, we have some business to attend to."

The hell?

Suddenly, he jerks my arm and pulls me towards the door. I shrug his hand off and try walking back to my seat, but he stands in my way and guides me out the door. I can't really punch him with the whole class including the teacher staring...

"What the fuck Neji, you think you can just pull me out of class whenever you like?!" I slap him across the face as he closes the door behind him. The sharp crack echoes throughout the corridor.

He lifts a hand up to the red mark on his face, wincing slightly. "That was uncalled for." He says calmly, letting his hand fall.

"That's what you think."

He makes an impatient noise. "Whatever, just follow me." He starts walking.

I roll my eyes, and turn to go back into the lab, but he makes an impatient noise and grabs my arm, dragging me after him.

Bastard...

He leads me out into the balcony, down the stairs and out of the building, into the football field, before stopping abruptly and turning to face me.

...He looks really scary.

His face wears absolutely no expression, save for the burning fury in his eyes, and his mouth is set into a thin straight line.

"I never really wanted to resort to this, and never this early. But then, waiting to the end of the week would make no sense if I can just do this now." He says icily.

Huh? This makes zero sense. Resort to what? And what's with the end of the week?

"I'm not going out with you." I snort.

"Tenten, you _will _go out with me." He glares at me.

"What're you gonna do, beat me up until I say yes?" I say sarcastically.

...He's not, is he?

"Go out with me, or I will tell everybody exactly who your parents are."

_What?_

My parents?

How did he...

_How did he find out?_

I'm speechless. Nothing will come out of my mouth.

_How did he find out?_

"I found this letter under your plate at breakfast a couple of days ago." He takes my mother's letter out of his pocket. "I had someone research your family. The Uchihas own the police station. It wasn't difficult to persuade them to give me a few facts that I needed." He smirks, knowing he's caught me completely off guard. "So, what will it be, Tenten? Will you go out with me, or do I have to tell everyone that you're the daughter of a murderer?"

I...

What? Would he really...

He's bluffing. He has to be.

I'm stupid. He's just holding the damn letter-

I snatch it out of his hands, and glance at it, to see whether it's the real thing.

_Dear Tenten, _

_How are you doing at school? What about your friends? I'm very worried about you darling. _

_Your father's doing very well. He says he's trying to be good so he'll get out with good behaviour. I really do pity him, that prison was such a terrible place...when they told me I was free to go, I almost wanted to stay just so that he wouldn't be lonely. I hope you never have to see that place Tenten. _

_You know your father was innocent, don't you, Tenten? You know that judge was a biased bitch, just because her own son was caught in the shooting? You father was never there, Tenten, you know that right? Mommy would never lie to you, you know that. Don't hate us, Tenten, hate the real killer. Hate the judge. Hate those children. Don't hate your own parents. We were never there, I swear. Do you really think we're killers? Your darling parents, killers? You don't think that, darling, do you? We'd never betray you like that, and leave you all on your own. We had NOTHING to do with it, darling. Wrong place wrong time, you know? And besides, who cares about a bunch of children? They were probably all murderers themselves, anyway, and doing drugs. I hope my beautiful Tenten doesn't become like that. You're so young darling...how could that bitch of a judge take parents away from a little girl? Tenten, I know you're only six right now and won't be able to read this, but I'm sending it to Grams to read to you anyway, okay? I've written so many letters already, but Grams never writes back to tell me how you react. She's too old, I suppose. Never mind darling, I understand. You'll probably be able to write back when you're older. _

_Don't think too badly of us, okay Tenten? Mommy and Daddy love you, okay?_

_Mommy_

Oh God. He's not lying.

I look up at him, and see him smirking at my hands that are shaking.

With rage.

"You know, I never knew that I psychotic woman could write so well, or even remember her own daughter, even if she did get the age completely wrong. Quite a woman, your mother." He chuckles. "Her record says that she was once crowned Ms. Japan in her youth. Shame she went mental. Although, just from that letter, you can see how deep her denial runs. The woman's nuts."

"And your father, he was interesting. Killed four college boys one night, sentenced to life. Died in jail three years ago-hung himself, the record said. Depression from seeing his wife a raving lunatic. Your mother was taken out of the prison to a private facility when she went crazy, if I remember correctly. Solitary confinement can do that to a person." He cocks his head to one side, surveying me with interest.

"I wonder...did you go to your own father's funeral, Tenten? Or did you stay at school like a good little girl, laughing with your friends while your father-"

"Shut the fuck up." My voice is filled with barely contained rage, and I have to restrain myself to avoid castrating him right here. "Shut the fuck up, and tell me exactly what you want."

He arches an eyebrow. "You're agreeing to do what I want so quickly Tenten? Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. You don't seem the type to try anything stupid, or ask a load of pointless questions."

I remain motionless. "I'll do whatever you want, if you keep your fucking mouth shut."

A smug grin curves his lips. "I want you to date me."

What the hell? He's...he's serious enough to do this...to get me to date him?

_Why?_

He sighs at my silence. "My friends challenged me to get you to date me. If I fail, I won't look very good will I? Sorry I had to do this, but Ino would have been _so_ smug...you know I can never stand losing."

It takes a few seconds for me to believe he's actually serious.

THE _FUCK?_ HE'S BLACKMAILING TO WITH THIS JUST SO HE WON'T LOOK BAD IN FRONT OF HIS FRIENDS?!

I bite down on my tongue to stop myself from yelling at him, wincing in pain. The metallic taste of blood is filling my mouth.

What else can I do? I can't let anyone find out about this. This is the reason I studied so fucking hard to get to this elite school in the middle of nowhere, where nobody knows who I am.

...Dating him won't be so hard. I'll be humiliated and laughed at, but this is so much worse...

Is it?

Of course it is. It'll break my grandmother's heart...after she tried so hard to cover it up...

...But...they'll all laugh at me...I can't...

This is stupid. Am I actually going to choose my pride over my family?

"...Fine. I'll do it."

His expression just oozes victory and triumph. "Good. Then I'll meet you tomorrow, at breakfast. Come straight to me."

"Fine." I turn on my heel and start walking away.

"Oh, and Tenten?" He calls after me.

What does he want from me _now_?

"What?" I grit out, not turning to look at him.

"I expect your act to be convincing. Anything less than perfection, and the whole school finds out, understood?"

_Bastard._

I nod curtly, and walk away.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter took longer than the others to get out, I had a lot of exams. Not sure about the sixth chapter, it's the Easter holidays right now, but I have GCSEs right afterwards...if I get bored of studying German, I might write...yeah, there's a fairly good chance of that happening.**

**Anyway, thanks for all your reviews so far, please review this chapter!**


	6. First Date

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Nor do I own Cartier, Versace, See's Candy or any movie that includes the Mafia.

...I do own the little Chinese restaurant in the the village square. And the random ferris wheel.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"Tenten? Hello, Tenten what's wrong with you?" Naruto waves a hand in front of my face. "Hey Gaara, I think she's dead. Can you check whether she's dead?"

...I have half a mind to just shove him off my bed...

Gaara rolls his eyes and reaches up from the floor to hit Naruto on the head. "Leave her alone, idiot."

"But Gaara!" Naruto whines.

"Is the youthful flower thinking about Neji?" Lee suggests, lying of the carpet next to Gaara, a huge grin plastered across his face.

Oh yes I am thinking about Neji. About how he'll scream when I push the knife down on his-

"Oh, Tenten?" Hinata calls timidly from her desk on the other side of the dorm. I raise my head, making a 'hmm?' noise.

"Sakuno came by earlier collecting the presents, so I gave her your package for Neji. That's okay, right? I remember you saying you didn't want to put your name on it."

Oh right...it's Christmas Eve...damn.

FUCK I WANNA JUST STORM INTO SAKUNO'S ROOM AND JUST TAKE THE DAMN THING BACK AND THROW IT INTO THE FUCKING RIVER AND NEVER FUCKING SEE IT AGAIN!

"Yeah...that's okay."

She smiles, relieved, and turns back to her work.

"Oooh! What did you get Neji, then, Tenten? Was it a lo-ove confession?" Naruto snickers. I can see the corners of Gaara's mouth twitching too.

I'm really about to just kick him off onto Gaara and scream at him, but I suddenly remember Neji's words.

_"I expect your act to be convincing. Anything less than perfection, and the whole school finds out, understood?"_

Fuck him. Fuck all his fucking friends...

"No." I force out, ducking my head pretending to be shy. "I got him a bracelet."

Naruto pulls a face. "A bracelet?"

"Mmhmm..."

"Well...that's...thoughtful." Naruto says slowly. "I mean, it shows...thought..."

No, duh.

Fucktard.

"I had no idea what to give him, and I was passing a jewelry store on the way back here, so shut up." I snap.

Ooops. That wasn't the way a girlfriend should act, is it? Or maybe it is...

Oh fuck knows.

"At least you got him something." Gaara yawns. "Did you get _us_ anything?"

"Hm? Yeah, of course. I always do!" I say indignantly, momentarily forgetting about Neji.

"...you got us all chocolate last year..." Gaara mutters.

"Chocolate still costs money, Gaara."

...okay, I kind of have a problem with presents...I don't want the people I give them to to think that I actually put thought in that present because if they don't like they'll think I'm stupid...yeah...I usually get people chocolate or some random thing I tell them I dug out of my closet.

But this year I tried something different, because change and improvement is important in life!

And Naruto whined all through Christmas last year about how he spent so much on my present and I just gave him some crappy chocolate...

And it _wasn't_ crappy! It was Godiva!

Okay, never mind...

"So timid lotus, did you get the youthful Sasuke anything this year?" Lee teases Hinata. I feel Naruto stiffen next to me, and turn to look at him curiously.

Why is he so touchy about Sasuke and Hinata?

Hinata blushes, and nods.

"Really? What did you get him!"

"...I...I...I made him a scarf..."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Lee hugs her in joy.

Retard.

Just thinking of Sasuke brings my mind back to that bastard...

Neji...

I fucking hate him. I can't _believe_ he dug up that crap about my family...

I can't believe I gave in...

Fuck.

I let him win.

_Fuck._

It's just...at my last school, when it got out that my parents were the murderers...everyone hated me.

My friends, my peers, my teachers...they all glared at me wherever I went, whispered behind my back, ignored me...

Even my best friend...

Everyday after school, I'd find hate mail in my locker, my books vandalized, my wallet stolen. Girls would drag me to some remote place in the park, behind all the trees and take turns hitting me, calling me a murderer...

And all the while, I denied that my parents were murderers.

I...didn't believe it myself.

I told them they were wrong, told them my parents were innocent and would never hurt anyone...

My_ parents. _They...they had never hurt me, _never. _We had always been well-off, more so than any of my classmates...my dad helped me with schoolwork, my mom bought me expensive clothes...on weekends we'd all go out together and have fun...

_My parents loved me._

I had the good grades, I had lots of friends, I had the doting parents...

I had it all.

_I was so happy._

Then in one night...

I had no friends.

My parents were in jail.

I was alone.

_**My parents ruined my fucking life.**_

And I still didn't believe that they were murderers.

Until that night...

That letter...

_Tenten_

_I'm so sorry. What kind of father am I, to put my own daughter through this? _

_You're strong, Tenten, I know. You'll get through this fine. Remember everything that I've taught you, alright?_

_I'm sorry, my darling daughter. My heart is filled with regret...so much regret...to leave my only daughter alone and helpless..._

_I'm sorry, Tenten. _

_I love you. _

_Dad_

I never visited my parents in jail.

I didn't go to my father's funeral.

I didn't visit my mother when she became a lunatic.

I wiped my parents from my memory.

And I never trusted anyone again.

I didn't talk at school.

I concentrated on my studies because my intelligence was the only thing I had left.

At home, I only studied. I ate when I was hungry, I slept when I was tired.

I...became a shell of my former self...only living for the sake of living...

I was barely human.

_**I was barely alive.**_

Then Grams came and whisked me away from everything. I studied my ass off to get into this school where nobody knew me.

_I was given a second chance._

And Neji's going to ruin it.

Bastard.

_Bastard._

"Tenten? Are you...are you _crying_?" Naruto says incredulously, his hand brushing a tear rolling down my cheek.

Oh fuck.

By now, Lee, Gaara and Hinata have crowded around my bed, eyes wide, faces concerned.

"I'm...I'm fine." I gasp out. "Just..."

"Tenten, what's wrong?"

"Tenten?"

"Tenten, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I stand up, unable to bear listening to their worried voice any longer. "I'm going outside for...for some air."

I push past them and run out into the hall, slamming the door behind me. I hear them flinging the door open, their footsteps thundering towards me, their voices calling for me to wait...

I just run even faster. Except I can't see where I'm going because the tears in my eyes are making me blurry, and I can't wipe them away and-

I bump into something warm, and soft. I look up, and see...

Neji. Perfect.

His pale violet eyes are wide in surprise, staring down at me with a faint hint of honest concern.

"Tenten? What the hell?"

He looks up as Gaara, Lee, Naruto and Hinata come around the corner, panting and breathless. They stop when they see me in Neji's arms.

"The fuck?" Naruto breathes.

"What did you do?" Neji's voice rings sharply through the corridor.

Playing the concerned boyfriend. Ugh, I've got the perfect opportunity to knee him in the crotch right here and now...how dare he _touch_ me...

"Hinata, what happened?" He asks her directly.

"N-nothing we were just t-talking and she started crying...then she just got up and l-left..." She stammers under his icy gaze.

"Alright, leave her with me. Disappear." He waves them away dismissively.

I hear Gaara hissing.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He growls, stepping towards us. "She hates you, get the hell away from her! What makes you think we'd leave her with_ you_ when she's like this!"

"What, Sabaku? You think I'd hurt my own girlfriend?"

Gaara pauses with uncertainty for a second. Naruto takes this chance to step in. "Girlfriend? What the hell are you talking about? She said no!"

"Hm? Are you embarrassed, Tenten?" I hate his voice. It's always so mocking in my ears...

"Didn't you tell your friends about us?" He continues.

I force myself to shake my head.

Bitch.

He fakes a sigh and looks up. "You see, Tenten finally accepted my offer today. We're together now. So, if you would excuse us." Neji starts to lead me away from them, but Gaara's voice stops us.

"Wait."

Neji rolls his eyes so only I can see, and turns around. "Yes?"

"Tenten, is it true?" His jade green eyes scanning my face. "Did you really say yes?"

I really don't want to lie to you Gaara...

"Yeah. I did." I turn to hide my face from their view, not wanting to see their expressions. I'm already fucking tired of this...

"Can we leave now?" Neji says sarcastically, taking my hand and pulling me after him.

He leads me out of the building into the garden. As soon as we're outside, I snatch my hand back from him. He raises his eyebrows but says nothing. I shiver slightly. It's fucking cold out here, even if the colourful flowers are nice. This garden is pretty small, but I think it's the best looking one. We're standing at the beginning of the path between the two flowerbeds, and there's a small fence surrounding us beyond them. I look up at the inky blue sky, and absently think that Neji's eyes are the same colour as the crescent moon hanging in the darkness.

Damn. Forget Neji. His eyes are more evil, anyway.

"That was convenient." He says after a few moments. "I was just going to fetch you to explain what is expected of you."

Huh. That's why he was wandering around at this time in the night.

"Then tell me already. I want to get back to my dorm." I snap.

He arches an eyebrow. "You seemed so eager to get away from it just now."

"That was before I bumped into you, jackass."

He chuckles darkly. "I hope you don't behave like that when other people are around, Tenten, or you will pay."

"You'll tell the whole friggin' school about my deep dark secret right?" I roll my eyes, trying to sound nonchalant. "Some kind of man you are, Neji, blackmailing a girl to do whatever you want."

Neji frowns slightly, and turns away from me, his loose hair swinging around to hide his face.

I guess he does have a conscience.

"Tomorrow," he starts, ignoring my comments, "you will come to my table for breakfast, and act accordingly."

Fuck no. Not with his fucking friends laughing at me all the while...

"No." I say clearly, interrupting him. "You'll come to _my_ table. I am not sitting with _those_ people."

A smirk tugs at his lips. "Scared of my friends, Tenten?"

"No. I just hate them."

"Fine. I'll come to you. Then, we'll be going out to do something...whatever people do on Christmas Day."

"We'll split up as soon as we're far enough away from the school." I snap. What's the point of spending the day with him when none of his stupid friends are around?

"I'm afraid not, Tenten. You see, the most likely thing that will happen is that my friends will...watch from a distance."

"They'll fucking _follow_ us?!" I say incredulously. "The _fuck_?"

He rolls his eyes. "Please watch your language, Tenten. Besides, even if my friends don't...follow, there will be other students around town. You may never think of the others, as unpopular as you are, but I'm different. Once word gets out that I have found a girlfriend, all kinds of people will be following us around."

The fuck...

"Fine. Whatever."

"I'll bring you back to school at the end of the day, before dinner, and then presumably you'll be free to go back and chit-chat with Temari's brother and my cousin, unless something comes up. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going now." I turn around to walk back into the building.

"Oh, and you can expect something nice for Christmas tomorrow, Tenten. There are perks to going out with me, you know." I hear him calling from behind me.

I stick my middle finger up at him behind me in reply.

* * *

The moment I step into my room, I see Naruto and Gaara's reproachful glares, and Lee and Hinata's worried faces.

"Tenten? What happened?" Hinata gets up from her chair and approaches me carefully, as if I'm some kind of dangerous creature.

"Who cares." I flop down on my bed, next to Gaara who is currently occupying it. He glares at me and crosses his arms.

"You could've at least told us you were his girlfriend now, you know." He says grumpily.

"Yeah I know, sorry, whatever." I yawn, pulling the covers around myself.

"Why did you say yes?" Naruto asks curiously from Hinata's bed. "I mean, I thought you hated him."

"Shut up, I'm going to sleep."

There's silence in the room. Then, Lee gets up and snaps the light off and everything's dark. I hear Hinata get up from her desk and get in bed next to Lee-it's Naruto's turn to be on the floor tonight.

"Happy now?" Gaara says, his voice ringing in the dark silence.

"Mmm..."

I feel Gaara getting under the blankets with me. None of the teachers care where we sleep, anyway, they never check even though they're supposed to. None of the students sleep in their designated rooms unless their friends go there.

"Tenten..." Gaara murmurs softly, so the others don't hear him. "Tenten...did he do something to you? Why were you crying?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow, alright? I'm tired, Gaara..." I mumble back.

He seems to accept my answer and shuts up. I try to sleep, despite knowing that the insomniac lying next to me is going to be watching me all night, waiting for me to say something in my sleep.

Which I won't. I never do.

* * *

**Narrator**

_Naruto rolled over on the carpet, and checked his wristwatch. The numbers glowed brightly in the darkness of the room: 12:15_

_He stood up, knowing that Gaara was watching him from Tenten's bed. _

_"Going to see him again?" The redhead asked him quietly, so as not to disturb their friends, who were already asleep. _

_"Yeah. I'm gonna find out what happened to Tenten." Naruto muttered back. "Don't wait for me-I don't expect to be back tonight."_

_"I don't even want to know what you're implying." Gaara groaned. Naruto smirked, and slipped out of the room. _

_Naruto walked quickly through the building, his bare feet making no sound on the carpeted floor. He stopped outside his own room, and took a deep breath before opening it and slipping inside. _

_He crossed the room, past his own bed to reach his sleeping room mate. Naruto smiled when he saw his room mate curled up on his bed, dark hair in a tangled mess. _

_"Hey, Sasuke, get up." He shook Sasuke's shoulder gently. "Sasuke! C'mon, wake up!"_

_Sasuke murmured something incoherently, and blinked his eyes open. "Naruto?" He mumbled. _

_He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up groggily next to the blond. "I thought you'd come in here tonight, so I ditched Neji and the others."_

_"What did Neji do to Tenten?" Naruto asked straight out. _

_Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Didn't she say she'd go out with him?"_

_"Yeah, but why? Tenten would never do that! That's the only reason I let you use her in your twisted game!"_

_"Seems like you were wrong, Naruto." Sasuke yawned. "She gave in."_

_"She'll get hurt, like all the others! I don't want that to happen to her, Sasuke, tell Neji to drop it **now**!" Naruto hissed angrily. _

_"Look, I can't do anything now, okay? If I just-"_

_"Sasuke, you need to do something! I'm already betraying Hinata so much, I can't do it to Tenten too!"_

_Sasuke's onyx eyes glittered with something Naruto couldn't describe. "You're not betraying Hinata, Naruto. It's my own choice."_

_Naruto lowered his gaze to the ground. "We're not talking about Hinata now. We're talking about Tenten." _

_Sasuke sighed. "Fine, though there's not much I can tell you. Neji didn't tell us much about how he got Tenten to say yes. He just said that he talked to her in physics, and she came to her senses and saw what she was being offered. That's it, that's all I can tell you."_

_"Tenten's not that easy to persuade!" Naruto insisted. "Did he do something to her?"_

_"I don't know, Naruto! That's all I was told!" Naruto could see that Sasuke was getting pissed. _

_"Okay, fine." He sighed in defeat. "It's just weird...you know she was crying? Tenten doesn't cry for no reason..."_

_Sasuke shrugged, and his lips pulled into a small smile. _

_"What?" Naruto asked, starting to grin himself. "Why are you smiling?"_

_"I wish you could see yourself, Naruto." Sasuke chuckled "You're always so passionate about your friends. Sometimes I wonder whether you would get like that over me."_

_Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but at that second, the door opened, and Sasuke quickly jerked Naruto down onto the bed. Naruto landed with a surprised sound on top of Sasuke, who pressed a finger to his lips. _

_They heard the nervous giggles of Sasuke's fan girls as they filed into his room, bearing the gifts of almost all the females in the school. _

_"What did you get Sasuke this year, Tomoko?"_

_"This really cool leather belt, it cost me a fortune! What about you, Machi?"_

_"Not telling!"_

_"Aw c'mon!"_

_"You'll see tomorrow!"_

_The quiet chatter of the girls continued as they piled the presents on Sasuke's desk. When they were finally finished, they all left, giggling about how Sasuke would react to their presents. _

_Naruto's lips stretched in a wolfish grin as the door shut quietly. _

_"So, Sasuke. You wondering about how passionate I could get, hm?"_

_Sasuke smirked. "Mind showing me?"_

_Naruto pressed his lips down on Sasuke's, and soon had his tongue in the dark-haired boys mouth, delighted by the pleasured moans his little raven was giving. _

_**(To keep the rating T, I shall not elaborate on what they did afterwards, and skip past all the strenuous exercise that is practiced every week by these two boys during the night. So, a while later...)**_

_"See, this is why I feel guilty about Hinata. She wants you so badly and I have you trapped right here with nowhere to go..."_

_"Forget her and just fuck me already." He panted between moans. _

_"Again? But you'll be reeeeeeally sore tomorrow..."_

_"God Naruto, stop teasing me already!"_

_**(So, from all the sounds that came from Sasuke afterwards, I think it's safe to say that Naruto gave in to his lover's wishes)**_

_"I love you, Sasuke."_

_It was a while before the other boy answered, a soft, fond whisper in the blonde's ear. _

_"Love you too, idiot."_

* * *

Fuck it's bright. You see, this is why I hate mornings, it's always so fucking bright...

I yawn and sit up, and see Gaara sitting next to me, leaning against the headboard, doing something on his laptop.

"Morning, Tenten." He says to me. "You're up early today. It's only five thirty."

"Really?" I moan. "Ugh, whatever, I'm going to the bathroom. Oh, merry Christmas, by the way, Gaara." I smile.

"Merry Christmas, Tenten. I'll take the chocolate now."

I whack him on the head. "It's not chocolate."

"I'm so surprised."

"Keep talking like that and I won't give you anything."

He smirks. "Then I won't give you anything."

"Jerk. Hey, what happened to Naruto?" I frown, noticing the rumpled pile of blankets on the floor.

"He got up early. Went for a walk." Gaara replies.

"Oh. Anyway, I'm gonna wash up." I get up from the bed, grab my stuff and waltz out, careful not to wake Lee or Hinata up.

When I'm done brushing my teeth and washing my face and everything, I stare in the mirror, unsatisfied. I'm supposed to be Neji's girlfriend, right? As much as I hate it, I might as well look the part...

Except I have no idea what to do with my hair. I've always just left it down and dragged a comb through it in the morning, and by the end of the day it usually looks like a total mess.

I remember how my dad used to do it for me. He'd pull it up into two buns, kiss my head and call me his little panda.

Damn Neji. I'm supposed to...I'm not supposed to remember anything about them.

Whatever.

I grab some pins and arrange my hair in two buns, and take a look at myself again.

I look like...I dunno. Like Tenten. The way I always used to look, until I was fourteen. Two years ago now. So sad, whatever.

Should I use make-up? Not like I ever use any, just for special dances and crap, and Hinata always helps me with that...

Oh fuck it. I won't bother, I'll make a complete fool of myself.

I go back into my room. When Gaara notices me, he raises his eyebrows. "Nice."

"Shut up. I'm just doing it for Christmas." I snap.

"Yeah, I do remember seeing you take special care of your hair last Christmas."

"Here, take it and shut up." I throw my present to him.

I can see his eyes sparkling with curiousity as he opens it. Jeez, really, he's just like a kid.

"Eyeliner." He says, eyes wide open in disbelief. Then, he grins at me. "Well, it's cheaper than the box of chocolates you got me last year. I assume that's why you bought it?"

"I'm so under-appreciated."

"Haha, well thanks anyway. Your present's on your desk."

"Playing Santa Claus last night, Gaara?" I roll my eyes as I walk to my desk.

"What else is there for an insomniac to do on Christmas Eve?"

"Oh I dunno Gaara, take a sleeping pill?"

I pick up the box on my desk and rip off the red wrapping paper.

"Wow. Chocolates. Thanks, Gaara." Bitch.

"They're See's Candies Scotchmallows, Tenten. I thought they were your favourite?"

Oh. Yes Scotchmallows! I really love them, I have no idea why. They're these chocolates with a dark chocolate coating and a layer of marshmallow and caramel inside. Seriously, they're delicious.

"Thanks, Gaara."

"Welcome."

"I thought we were supposed to open gifts on Boxing Day, actually..." Gaara muses, typing something.

"Nobody gives a damn anyway."

I lift the lid and bite into a chocolate.

Bliss.

I finish it, and turn around to choose an outfit for today. It's a holiday from now until January, finally.

Crap. What should I wear? Red? Pink? Yellow? Green?

Black. Yes. Perfect.

I take out my black shirt, and my black jeans, then take a black jacket. Yes, I do own a lot of black. No idea why.

"Hey Gaara, mind looking away? Changing here."

"Sure." Gaara just turns away, eyes still fixed on his laptop.

I pull my outfit on quickly, and zip up my jacket.

"Oi, Gaara, opinion?"

He turns his head to look at me. "It's obvious that you love Christmas."

"Thank you." I giggle, and flop down on the bed. "Time?"

"Six."

"Damn..." Not that I want to go to breakfast. Neji...

* * *

Gaara, Hinata, Lee and I walk towards the dining hall. Lee's wearing the stupid leg warmers I got him, and the red scarf that Hinata knitted for him. Yeah, Hinata knitted us all scarves, except for Naruto. She gave me a white one, which kind of ruins my black effect, but I'm wearing it anyway. Gaara's wearing his green one, plus the eyeliner I gave him, hehe.

"Hey guys, wait up!" Naruto runs up to us, wearing the orange sweater that Hinata bought him. "Merry Christmas!" He pants.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Naruto!"

"Yeah, merry Christmas."

"Whatever..."

"Hey Tenten, what's with your hair? It's different." Naruto says, looking at it. "But it's nice, of course!" He adds hurriedly.

...gee, thanks.

"Where were you this morning, Naruto?" Lee asks, as we start walking again.

"Uh...got up early, went for a walk."

"Trouble sleeping, Naruto?" Gaara says, a sly smile on his face.

Huh? I don't get it.

Naruto shoots him a look that I can't see. "No, I just got up early."

"Funny. You seem to be doing that a lot these days."

"Yeah, and it never seemed to bother _you_."

"No, it didn't, but since ahem said ahem to ahem I thought maybe you'd...ahem."

The fuck?

"What the hell was that, Gaara?"

"Oh nothing. Naruto and I just have a secret code." He grins, as she pushed the doors open. We're met by the sound of giggling from most girls in our year, wondering about Neji and Sasuke.

Yeah, they sneak presents into their room every year, and on Christmas Day those two make a huge show of wearing everything that they're given, so the girls have learnt to give them clothes and accessories if they want to see their presents used by them.

...not that that's the reason I gave him a bracelet. Seriously, I was walking past the jewelry store.

The others wander off to the counter to get food, but I sit down at our usual table nervously, waiting.

Damn. I shouldn't be here. Neji will think I was waiting for him.

I get up quickly, and join the line behind Hinata.

"What's the matter, Tenten?" She asks me, a frown creasing her brow. "You seem really jumpy today."

"Hm? I was just...nothing." Oh yeah, great...

"I bet she's waiting for Neji." Gaara says sarcastically.

Why is Neji such a touchy subject for him? I thought he wanted me to get together with him?

"What's your problem, Gaara." I grumble.

We get our food and go back to our table, and start eating.

Suddenly, the volume of the chatter in the room gets higher.

Damn. They're here.

Neji, Sasuke, Temari, Ino and Sakura walk deliberately slowly into the room, all of them smiling warmly and waving to their 'fans', who are squealing and pointing out the presents they gave them on their bodies. They're like some kind of walking gallery of gifts.

Damn Neji looks good when he smiles like that...he's wearing a black jacket which looks like Versace to me, and his hair's tied back by many colourful hair-ties all slipped onto one ponytail, decorated with several jewel studded hair clips and pins that are glinting in the light. You'd think it's look horrible with so many hair accessories on a _guy_, but somehow he's arranged them all to look freaking perfect. Huh. I bet Ino did it for him.

Once he sees me, his eyes brighten (how does he do that?) and he walks over to me. Sasuke looks over to us, and a slow smile stretches across his lips as he follows Neji over to us.

"Merry Christmas, Tenten!" Neji says, kissing my cheek as he sits down next to me.

Ew...

Sasuke sits down between Neji and Naruto, wincing slightly as he lowers himself onto the bench. Oh yeah, if it pains you so much to sit here with us then just go the hell away...

Except Hinata's eyes are shining with hope, and I just can't bring myself to sweetly ask my 'boyfriend' to make his fucking bodyguard disappear.

I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my foot. Bastard. He stepped on it.

Oh. Right. Act.

"Merry Christmas Neji." I say, forcing myself to smile shyly.

I see Gaara watching us intently. Damn. Fuck off, Gaara.

Actually now that I think about it..._everyone_ is staring at us. Every single fucking person in the room is staring at Neji and me.

Da-amn. Sakuno and her friends, and practically everyone in my year...love Neji. How could I forget? And now they're all gonna hate me, and I'll just be smiling sweetly on Neji's arm until he tells me the game's over...

Fuck.

"So...are you two going anywhere later?" Gaara asks casually. Everyone is silent, waiting for Neji's answer.

"Yes actually, I was planning on taking Tenten into town this afternoon." Neji smiles at him courteously. "And you?"

"Tenten, you're going with _him_ for Christmas?!" Naruto yells, looking hurt. I hear a low chuckle and glare at Sasuke. Bastard. He thinks this is funny?

Oops. Answer. Now. "Yeah, sorry and whatever..."

Now his arm is snaking around my waist. Great...

"Actually, Neji, lets go now." I say to him. I can't bear everyone watching us any longer...

"Really?" He looks surprised.

"Yeah, can't wait, lets go!" I fake a cute 'overeager new girlfriend' face and pull him up from his chair by his arm, and drag him of the dining hall, holding his hand in mine.

If I have no choice but to act like a simpering girly girl, I'll fucking well do it like a pro. If he mocks my acting skills, I'll fucking kill him...

"Why are you so eager to leave, Tenten?" He asks me as soon as we're far away enough.

"Are you friggin' crazy, how can you stand everyone watching you with bated breath like that." I mutter to him, still holding the pose in case someone is following us.

He shrugs, jewelry jingling with the motion. I look down at his wrist and notice several bracelets and chains dangling from it.

Including mine. It's really simple, just stainless steel links. I didn't put much thought in it.

I should just rip it off right here and strangle him with it...

"Be careful, we're being followed." Neji murmurs to me suddenly.

I take out my compact mirror, in an act of checking my make-up, angling the mirror face so it reflects the faces of whoever is following us.

...practically everyone.

Great.

I snap my mirror shut and stuff it back in my bag.

"You attract too much attention." I whisper angrily to him.

"It's not my fault I was born beautiful." He smirks. Conceited..."Now lean against me."

I force myself to press my body against his, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Good enough for you?"

"Perfect."

We walk out of the school like this, with the whole of our year watching us from behind.

Fuck it's cold.

"Neji, where are you taking me?" I say loudly, lifting my head off his shoulder. Ow, my neck hurts.

"You'll see." He replies cheerfully.

"Seriously, where are we going?" I hiss.

Neji sighs in frustration, then smirks again. He swings our hands to and fro as he talks. "Well, we're going to find you a suitable Christmas present...then go for lunch somewhere...and then I was thinking about seeing a movie...then an evening walk back to school."

"You're so original, Neji." I roll my eyes. God, I'm already bored.

"Do you have any better ideas, then?"

"...no, whatever, who cares..."

We reach the shops after a few minutes walk. I wonder what he considers a 'suitable Christmas present'.

...what are those stalkers gonna do when Neji and I go in a shop? Press their noses up against the shop window? Follow us in and pretend they're shopping?

Suddenly Neji pulls me to the side of the road into a store. I frown and look up to see which store it is.

...Cartier...

I am not impressed...

"Sorry, next time I'll get you Harry Winston." Neji chuckles.

Oh, did I say that out loud? Damn, he probably thinks I'm some insecure idiot who has to talk to herself...

"Ah, Mr. Hyuuga! Come in, we were expecting you!" A handsome guy in a suit at the glass counter waves us over, and we sit in front of it. I stare down at the pieces in display.

...wow.

"We've prepared some pieces for you to see, please wait a moment." The guy hurries into some door at the back of the shop.

"Just choose something, okay, Tenten? Never mind about the price." Neji says to me as soon as the guy is out of earshot.

"Actually, I was planning to buy the most expensive one." I tell him. Really, did he think I was going to be considerate?

He gives me a strange look. "Most girls would be worried about taking advantage of their boyfriend and choose the least expensive one."

"If they actually cared about the person whose bank account they were emptying."

He smiles and turns away. "True."

The man comes back with a collection of necklaces, pendants and bracelets, and a book describing each one.

"We've selected some of our best pieces for you, Mr. Hyuuga. You see this one here..." The guy rambles on about each one, and I listen avidly. I've always had a particular weakness for jewelry actually...did Neji know?

"Well, Tenten? Which one do you like?" Neji asks me, when the guy is finally done.

I consider them all for a while. Yeah, these are meant for older people, but they're all so pretty...the way the diamonds sparkle in the light, and the beautiful, sleek design of each one...

"Um...that one?" I point to a necklace.

"Ah yes...let me see..." The man flips through his book, finds the page, and turns it so we can read the description.

_**Panthère de Cartier necklace  
**platinum, brilliants, onyx, emerald_

_With a majestic, haughty air, the panther sits within an onyx circle connected to a black silk cord by platinum and diamond attachments. Paved with brilliant diamonds and onyx, it catches and disperses the light in a glittering shower and lends the pendant and incisive sparkle. A gem of a necklace that is the embodiment of passionate femininity._

Wow. That sounds nice.

Well duh. It's supposed to sound nice. They won't put 'oh yeah, the panther looks a bit weird, but just ignore that'. The freaking description is supposed to help it sell.

But yeah, it is nice.

"Yeah, Neji, I want that one." I say, clinging onto his arm. I'm not doing this because I want to-the shop is now full of girls from our school. More specifically, from our year.

Neji nods. "Charge it to my uncle's account, you know the number, yes?"

The man nods eagerly. "Yes of course, Mr. Hyuuga. I'll get you the necklace now..."

We leave the shop soon afterwards, and I'm holding onto a small red Cartier bag.

"...thanks, Neji." I say to him as we walk, reluctantly honest.

He arches an eyebrow. "So you _can_ be polite."

"You bought it, I get to keep it, so I'm saying thank you, okay?!" I snap at him. God he pisses me off...

"In that case, you're welcome." He smirks. "Although, technically, my uncle paid for it."

"...will he mind?"

"He won't even notice the money's gone." Neji snorts.

"Oh..."

Wonder where we're going now, anyway...I pull up my sleeve and check the time. It's 12:30.

"Hey Neji...aren't we a bit early?"

"Yes, we're running a bit ahead of schedule..." He frowns. "Is there anything you want to do?"

"I'm not freaking helping you, bastard."

He rolls his eyes. "Please bear in mind that we're still being followed."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..."

"...is there a Christmas fair or something in town?"

"How the hell would I know."

He makes an irritated sound. "Damn...okay, I'm getting you flowers. What flowers do you like?"

"Orchids." I reply, smirking.

"...don't you have any shame, Tenten?"

"Excuse me, did a blackmailer seriously say that to me?" I scoff.

"I'm just asking you to pose as my girlfriend, how hard can it be?"

"Not hard, boring."

"I got you the necklace, didn't I?"

"You would've gotten me a plastic toy if your stupid friends were satisfied."

He's saved from answering when we reach a roadside florist.

"A big bouquet of those orchids please." Neji says, pointing in the direction of a display of fiery orange orchids. Wow, those are nice. I wonder how much they cost? Hope they're expensive, hahaha...

"Certainly sir." The old woman gets up and starts tying a few together.

"Tenten, stand closer to me." Neji mutters to me.

I roll my eyes an take a step closer to him. "Better now?"

"Please take your time." Neji smiles at the florist without answering me.

The woman hands him the bouquet, and he gives her a few bills in return. "Don't bother with the change." He says politely.

I thought he wanted to waste time? Making her get the change would've taken some time, idiot...

Great, now I have to hold a huge bunch of flowers.

"Damn, we're still early..." Neji frowns, checking his watch.

"What, did you think buying flowers would take half and hour?" Idiot...

"...is that a ferris wheel?" He squints at a huge round thing that's visible in the distance.

"Yes, that is a ferris wheel, genius. Are we going on a freaking ride now?" At least I'll get to put this fucking bouquet down.

"Follow me." He tightens his grip on my hand and drags me through the village, pushing past _happy_ couples and ridiculously joyous families.

He buys two tickets to the damn thing, and tips the ferris wheel guy to get us to the front of the line.

"How much did you give the guy, Neji?" I ask disbelievingly as we step into a carriage. (or whatever one of those things a ferris wheel is called)

"Enough." He answers, setting himself down on a seat with a sigh. I sit directly opposite him. Thank God this stupid thing has windows, I was freezing...

There's silence between us as the ferris wheel lifts us higher and higher above the ground. From up here, I can see the cute snow-covered village and all the children running around, throwing snowballs at each other. There are a few couples walking hand in hand down different streets, and groups of friends going in and out of shops, laughing happily. They all look so tiny from up here...maybe I can see Hinata and the others...

"How much do you hate me, Tenten?" I hear Neji asking me casually. I can feel him looking at me as I look deliberately out the window, not meeting his gaze.

...is he seriously asking me that question?

"A lot." I know from experience that if you give really short and boring answers to people, they'll stop asking you questions.

"Sakura and Ino said that you liked me."

"I think that was before I knew you were capable of blackmail."

He shrugs. "I suppose you're right."

Fucking bastard, dragging me around the whole friggin' village when I just want to spend the day in a nice warm cafe with my friends...

"I don't like you very much either, Tenten." He states matter-of-factly.

"Was that comment supposed to hurt me?" I say sarcastically.

"I was just telling you a true fact. This isn't going to be a fairytale where you and I fall in love at the end, Tenten. I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Why are you telling me that? I thought you didn't care whether I get disappointed or not?"

He grins. "Just making sure you were clear on that point."

"I know this isn't a fairytale. Actually, I'm much more worried about the fact that there's nothing to stop you from telling the whole school about my little secret after our deal's over."

Neji tilts his head to the side. "You're always ready to believe the worst in people, aren't you?"

I give a snort. "That's hardly the worst you can do, Neji."

He looks away. "I won't tell, Tenten. You have my word."

"You word? Bullshit." I sneer. "I don't think 'your word' has a lot of value, Neji. Give me a solid deal, something better than 'your word' because it isn't fucking good enough."

I can see the surprised look on his face, and feel triumphant. Then, that patronizing smirk is back in place again.

"You don't have any faith in people, do you Tenten, after what happened to you?" He says to me like he's solved some huge mystery.

I pause.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"...we'll continue this conversation another time, Tenten. As you can see, the ride is over."

...maybe I'll just leave the stupid flowers here...ugh, whatever, they're pretty...

That stupid ferris wheel took long enough, it's 1:30 now. Neji takes my hand and rests his head on my shoulder, which I take as a warning that we're _still_ being followed.

He leads me to a popular Chinese restaurant in the village square, lifting his head off my shoulder to ask the waitress (she cannot be a year older than me...) about his reservation.

Stupid girl...I can see her gawking at him and his multicolour ponytail...

She finally leads us to a table next to the window looking out on the village square, flirting with Neji all the way. I almost want to pay her for irritating him so much, although the annoyance doesn't show on his face. No, he just keeps smiling that arrogant 'yes-bask-in-my-hotness' smile and tells her how beautiful her hair is. Two faced bastard...

The food we've ordered comes, and I still haven't spoken a word to him.

"Tenten, I know this is a painful experience for you, but do you mind looking like you're enjoying yourself? In case you haven't noticed, we're not alone here." Neji says to me in an exasperated tone as he eats.

I force a laugh up my throat. "That was so funny Neji!" I exclaim loudly.

Yeah, it'll be even funnier when I stab you to death with my chopsticks...

He laughs with me and casually puts a siu mai in my bowl. A sudden idea comes to me. I pick up the teapot to refill his cup, and 'accidentally' spilling hot tea onto his hand.

"Oops, Neji! I'm so sorry!" I stand up over him, the teapot still in my hand.

"Don't worry, Tenten, it's nothing!" We're both talking loudly through fake smiles.

"Really? Oh Neji, you're so _nice_!" On my last word, I 'accidentally' dump the teapot on his lap. Oh dear. It's a shame that I took the lid off when I was pouring tea for him. And that I dropped it upside-down.

Oh, and I wonder how it landed directly on his crotch? I certainly wasn't _aiming _for there. Oh yes-I mean, oh no, look at all that hot tea spreading all over his...sensitive area.

"Oh my God, I'm so clumsy!" I cry, trying not to burst out cackling as his eyes fly wide open.

"Look _Tennie_, why don't you just sit down and let me handle it." He's so pissed, his smile is faltering, haha. The waitress is already by his side, eager to get a look at...the mess.

Once Neji gets back from the bathroom (looking like he's just pissed in his pants) I spend the rest of the meal basically mocking him while smiling graciously, and putting some false giggles in between. His smiles gets more and more strained as I continue to laugh at him and making rude jokes about a wet crotch. I think he wants to hit me...

We leave the restaurant an hour later, the perfect image of a happy couple.

Neji doesn't speak to me as we walk, just staring straight ahead while keeping a loose hold on my hand.

Is this how he sulks? Ha.

I guess we're going to the cinema now...I wonder what we're gonna watch?

It better not be a horror movie, that's _so_ cliche...

Thank God it's not. It's a random movie about the Mafia, with lots of guns and killing.

Perfect.

As we walk out of the cinema, Neji stares at me weirdly. I think it has something to do with how I was laughing manically when the guy was being tortured with the knives and needles. Who knows?

The sun's setting, I note absently. I've always loved sunsets, they're so warm and colourful...

Our stalkers followed us into the movie. Yeah, I noticed halfway into the movie when I felt like I was being watched, and turned around to see a bunch of girls duck their heads immediately and try to hide their faces. So discreet, aren't they?

And they're still following us, but it's okay, you get used to it after a while.

We walk in silence up the cobbled path to the school-we've already left the village. There's no noise except the sound of our (and the people behind us) feet on the ground. The sparkling snow surrounds us everywhere, not a single patch left white in the light of the setting sun. Neji's hand is still holding mine, and I'm leaning against him. A show for those behind us.

"I'm expected to kiss you tonight." Neji suddenly says to me, keeping his voice low so only I can hear him.

"Okay." I shrug.

"That's it?" He turns to me, shocked.

"What?"

"It's not going to be your first kiss?" He asks.

Okay, now I'm insulted by his surprise.

"Of course it's going to be my first freaking kiss, who else would I have kissed?"

"You don't seem to care what you're losing your first kiss to. I was under the impression that all girls wanted their first kiss to be perfect."

I shrug again. "Who cares...kisses are just like words. They don't mean anything unless you mean them. It doesn't matter what words I say if I'm lying. It doesn't matter who I'm kissing if I don't care. I'm going to be kissed by someone for the first time tonight...I won't consider it my first kiss, because I don't give a damn about the one kissing me."

Don't think about who taught you that 'meaning' crap...

Neji is silent for a while. "Then you won't object to doing it now?"

"Whatever time is convenient for you." I roll my eyes.

He stops, and turns to face me, his face uncertain for once. He stays there, his hand on my shoulders, unmoving. My hands are by my sides, my face expressionless, if not a bit curious. The girls behind us have stopped too, watching intently. And he doesn't move.

Does Neji feel...guilty?

Does he think whatever he does to me will hurt me?

Does he think I'm some oversensitive _weakling?_

"You're an evil bastard, Neji." I say to him quietly, venomously. "And I'm only doing this so my secret won't get out. I don't care what you do, Neji, as long as you keep your end of the deal. Do you really think that anything you do to me will affect me? I don't care if you kiss me. I don't care, and you don't care. It won't mean anything to either of us."

Suddenly his confident smirk slides back in place.

Slowly, he inches his face towards me, until his lips brush against mine. Both our eyes are wide open, staring into each other.

His lips press harder against mine, and he brings his hand up to my hair. I wrap my arms around his neck, remembering that we're being watched.

There isn't anything remotely romantic about this. It's a show.

A few moments later, he pulls away and straightens up, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Don't forget to smile."

* * *

**Oh well, too bad for those readers who don't like yaoi. I personally love yaoi, I don't even read much straight stuff anymore, but anyway, enough about that...I bet you guys thought it was going to be Naruto fighting with Sasuke over Hinata from his reaction in chapter two, lol.**

**Yeah, this was a pretty long chapter, I'm never gonna write one this long again! I couldn't just leave the date unfinished though, and I really wanted to put the narusasu in...so yeah, hope you weren't bored. I generally avoid reading long chapters because I tend to lose concentration after a while...**

**Additional disclaimer: I don't own the '_Panthère de Cartier necklace'_ or the description below it, that was copied from the Cartier website. **

**Anyway, thanks for all your reviews so far, hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review!**


	7. Similar

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Nor do I own McDonald's.

This chapter starts right where the last one left off, when they're going back up to the school after their kiss.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

We arrive at the school a few minutes later. We go straight to our building, and I have the full intention of going up to my room and slamming the door on his face, but he stops me by yanking my arm.

Bloody stalkers...

"I had fun today, Tenten, I hope we can do it again." Neji says graciously to me at the bottom of the stairs. He takes my hand and lifts it to his lips.

"Me too, Neji!" I squeal happily, when I'm actually grimacing inside at the thought. "Soon, okay?"

"Of course." He lets go of my hand and I immediately fly up the stairs.

Okay, gotta move fast.

I dump the necklace and the flowers on my desk, then strip off quickly. I grab the outfit lying on my bed that I prepared this morning and pull it on quickly. Red shirt, black pants, and, most importantly, hooded jacket.

I wrench my hair out of the stupid buns and drag a comb through it, making it hide as much of my face as it can. Then, I pull the hood over my head. I can't risk any of Neji's fangirls recognizing me on my way there...

I take my phone out of the jeans I just took off, and send a quick message to Lee.

_leaving school 10 mins at wheel_

I shove it in my pocket and rush out of the building, running down the path back down to the village as fast as I can. What time is it...five thirty. Shit, need to go faster...

I finally reach the village, and tear across it to get to the Christmas fair. C'mon, faster dammit!

Yes! There they are! I spot Lee, Gaara, Naruto and Hinata waving at me from the front of line of the Ferris wheel. I jog over to them, nearly dead.

"That was close, Tenten! We thought you weren't gonna make it!" Naruto yells, clapping me on the back.

"Stop it Naruto, can't you see she's dying?"

"Hello, youthful flower! How was your date!"

Breath in...breath in...breath in..._out_...

"Tenten, are you okay?" Hinata asks me, putting one of my arms around her neck and letting me lean on her.

"...fine...just...tired..." I manage to wheeze out.

"Hey look, we can get in now! C'mon!" Naruto shoves us all into a carriage of the Ferris wheel.

Yes! I get to sit!

"Hey, so Tenten, tell us what happened!" Naruto says eagerly, leaning forward. "Did you kiss? Oh look, she's blushing, I bet they kissed!"

"Her face is just red because she ran all the way from school, idiot." Gaara rolls his eyes. "Why did you have to go back up anyway? You could've just said goodbye to Neji and come here without going all the way back."

I shake my head. "I didn't want to hurt his feelings."

Gaara snorts. "Since when are you concerned with other people's feelings?"

"Our youthful flower is blossoming!" Lee cries. "Congratulations, Tenten!"

"Er...thanks?"

"S-so...did Neji kiss you?" Hinata asks, unable to hide her curiousity.

"What? Oh yeah. It was nice." I say vaguely, looking out the window.

"That's it? It was nice?" Naruto echoes in disbelief. "What, was it disgusting or something?"

Oh great. Now they're all listening avidly.

"Of course it wasn't disgusting, it was really fun and cool and blah blah blah, okay?" I roll my eyes and turn to stare out the window.

"...right, okay..."

"So, what did you guys do?" I ask them, trying to get the topic off my stupid date...

"We...um...stayed in the cafe, as usual, of course!"

Lee is the _worst _liar.

"Uh...yeah! That's what we did! Good ol' coffee!"

Ignore my previous comment. Naruto is worse.

And the fact that Gaara's got his head in his hands in exasperation, and Hinata is blushing doesn't really hide the fact that they're lying either.

"Why are you lying? What did you do?" I press, intrigued.

"Lying? Who's lying?" Naruto says, trying to look innocent.

Okay, there is one person who will never lie.

"Hey Hinata, what did you guys do today?" I ask her sweetly (dangerously).

"Oh great, now we're screwed." Naruto groans.

Her face turns a much deeper shade of red.

"Erm...um...w-we...kind of..." she gulps, "we...f-f-followed you and Neji..." she trails off.

_What?_

_**What?**_

"You FOLLOWED us?!" I shriek, making them wince.

"Ah...yes, actually, now that I think about it. We did. For a while." Lee says sheepishly.

"Why do you care? Practically the whole year was following you two." Gaara says, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but I thought I could trust you guys!"

"It's fine, Tenten. We left after lunch."

"Oh yeah, I loved the teapot thing!" Naruto snickers. "Nice aim, it landed right on his-"

"Naruto!" Hinata squeaks, her face turning even redder.

"You know, your whole date is going to be on the front page of the school newspaper this week." Gaara tells me, grinning at the thought. "The newspaper president guy or whatever it is was following you too, with half the newspaper club."

"Oh." A thought suddenly occurs to me. "Did I look good?"

"You looked great, youthful blossom!" Lee says, grinning widely with all of his shiny teeth.

Thank God...

"Neji looked so gay with his hair like that, though!" Naruto snickers.

"Sasuke looked worse. Who the hell gave him a leopard print handbag?" Gaara says in disgust.

A slow smile spreads over Naruto's face. "Do you guys think Sasuke's gay?" He asks us suddenly.

Gaara lets out a snort.

"No." Lee says, his head tilted to one side in thought. "He went out with that girl last year, if I remember correctly...Karin. I believe she had a mental breakdown when he left her."

"Oh. Right._ Her_." Naruto pulls a face. "I don't like her."

"Nobody does, Naruto. She spends all day moping and thinking about Sasuke." I laugh. "She's so stupid."

"You call anyone affected by anyone else stupid, Tenten." Gaara says, smiling. "Aren't you stupid, wanting Neji?"

"I'm special. I'm allowed to." I say to him mock-haughtily, raising my head and narrowing my eyes.

He chuckles.

Suddenly there's a ringing sound in the um...Ferris wheel carriage thing...

Hinata pulls out her phone, frowning. As she sees who's calling however, her face brightens.

"Hello?"

Everyone's gone silent, so we can hear the person at the other end of the line.

_"Hi, Hinata? It's Itachi. Just calling to tell you your idea worked. They exchanged contracts this afternoon." _The voice is deep, and gleeful.

"That's great, but um, I'm a bit busy right now...can I call you back?"

_"Yeah, sure. We'll go celebrate, okay?" _He sounds amused now.

"Okay! I'll call you then, bye!" She can't get off the phone fast enough.

"Itachi? Sasuke's older brother? The hot guy in Year 12?" Naruto frowns. "Why are you talking to him?"

"It's nothing...I helped him with a business deal his dad was trying to do with Father..." She's grinning euphorically. "I can't believe it worked..."

"Wow, Hinata, that's great!" Naruto hugs her tightly.

"Well done, timid lotus!" Lee cries.

Gaara just smiles silently.

"That's nice..." I say, distracted.

I'm sure Itachi's tone was more friendly than business-like...gah, why do all the others have to be guys? They don't notice these things.

"We need to get off." Gaara says, standing abruptly.

"Oh, yeah."

We file out, and walk together into town. It's dark now, and the ancient streetlamps have all turned on. There are strings of colourful Christmas lights outside every shop window, and a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the village square. I wonder how I didn't notice that this afternoon...anyway, I can see several of our classmates walking around, taking pictures with it...fools...

Oh look, it's a snowman...

"Who's in charge of dinner this time?" I ask, yawning.

"Ah yes, what have you got to surprise us, Naruto!" Lee yells, jumping up. Gaara winces, breaking off his conversation with Hinata.

"Don't worry, we're nearly there!"

"Where are you taking us, moron?" Gaara grumbles.

"We're here!" He cries happily, holding the door open for us.

...McDonald's. Don't ask me how there's a McDonald's in a quaint old-fashioned village...

"...we are never letting Naruto in charge of dinner again."

"Agreed."

We go inside. Thank God there aren't that many people around. We order our food and sit at a table next to the window, watching the people around the Christmas tree.

"So, are you going out with Neji again soon, Tenten?" Lee asks, dipping a French fry in ketchup.

"I guess. Whenever he wants." I reply absently.

Oops.

"And I hope that's soon." I add quickly, hoping it sounds natural.

"Why did you say yes to him?" Naruto asks, his face wrinkled up in confusion. "I thought you said he was tricking you!"

"Turns out he wasn't." I shrug, taking a bite out of my burger.

"Really? What did he say?"

Shit.

"He told me that..." _Shit. _"If his actions gave me the wrong impression..." I'm speaking _really_ slowly here, so the gaps in between don't sound so unnatural. "He was sorry and that he was actually being sincere."

"Neji said that?" Hinata says, frowning.

"Yup."

Did I underestimate Hinata? How much does she know about Neji?

She doesn't continue questioning me, but exchanges a glance with Gaara.

What?

"The youthful flower has her first boyfriend! Let us rejoice!" Lee cries suddenly, waving a French fry in the air.

...I don't know him.

"Hey so Lee, how was that maths test?" I ask him, desperate to shut him up.

"I achieved the top grade in my class! Yes, I have finally surpassed Sasuke Uchiha! But I know that I should not get confident here, or else I shall fail in the coming test. Although I cannot help but feel joy in my latest success! I am sure that-"

"Yeah Lee, we get it." Gaara says, stretching over Naruto to whack Lee on the head.

"Oi Gaara get off me!" Naruto complains. "Whoa, nice abs."

Whack. "Stop looking down my shirt, you gay moron." Hn, if he doesn't want people to make comments like that, he shouldn't wear skin tight shirts under his already close-fitting sweater...

"Wah Hinata, Gaara hit me! And he called me gay!" Naruto fake-sobs.

"It's okay, Naruto...I'm sure he didn't mean it..."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"Wah, even Tenten's against me!"

"Don't worry my youthful comrade! Hinata and I are here for you!"

"Thanks guys!"

"Oh shut up..."

* * *

**Narrator**

_Neji sighed as he stepped out of the shower and toweled his hair dry. It had been a long day. Tenten wasn't easy to be around._

_"Hey Neji, have fun on your date?' Temari laughed, as he walked into her room. Ino, Sakura and Sasuke were also inside, looking over a stack of photos. _

_"How long did you follow us?" Neji asked, sitting down on her bed, still rubbing the towel through his hair. _

_"Don't worry Neji, we saw you kissing. You didn't suffer in vain." Ino's tinkling laugh replied. "We got quite a good picture of that, actually."_

_"Yeah, just like you to do it right when the sun was setting, dramatic bastard." Sasuke grinned, throwing him some photos. "You know how many shots I had to take before the girls deemed the lighting 'perfect'?"_

_"She seems so eager!" Sakura giggled. "Look at her!"_

_"Neji does have that effect on people." Ino said, smiling. "Oh, and no need to worry, Neji." She added. "I paid that idiot from the newspaper to hand over the pictures he had of that unfortunate teapot incident. Though I must admit, that was quite amusing. You should've seen your face!"_

_"That girl is so clumsy." Temari said, rolling her eyes. _

_"Oh yeah, nice necklace you gave her, Neji." Sakura commented, a little enviously. She tossed her rose coloured hair back, her pale green eyes glaring reproachfully at him._

_Neji chuckled and put an arm around her. "Don't worry, I got you three better gifts than that."_

_"And you, Sasuke?" Ino said cheekily, running a finger down Sasuke's arm._

_Sasuke smirked. "More expensive than Neji's, I'd bet."_

_"You know, sometimes I feel a bit guilty." Sakura said airily, leaning against Neji. "You guys spend so much on us."_

_"What are best friends for, Sakura?" Neji laughed, reaching into his drawer. "Here."_

_Sakura's eyes widened at the magnificent diamond bracelet winking up at her. _

_"Don't even ask about the price." He added, as she opened her mouth. _

_"Thanks, Neji!" She squealed, jumping at him with so much force that they landed on top of the bed. _

_"Hey Neji, where's mine?" Temari demanded, grinning._

_"Oh dear, I think I forgot about you Temari..." Neji joked, sitting up. _

_They all laughed, as Temari tackled him back down on the bed. _

* * *

I groan and bury my face in my hands, flinging the newspaper across the common room.

**_Neji Hyuuga's New Girlfriend_**

"Hey, you actually look good in the picture, Tenten." Naruto said, bouncing over.

"Oh look at what they put in about you. 'Leader of the School of Konoha math team, vice-president of the photography club, vice-president of the senior debating society, founder and president of the chess club, and captain of the tennis team." Gaara whistles. "Impressive. Is it true, though? I don't believe I've ever seen you do any of this stuff."

"Wow Tenten, I didn't know you founded the chess club!"

For _fuck's _sake...

"I got stuck leading the math team because it meant extra work and nobody else wanted to do it, I broke my camera last summer, I haven't debated in months, and I stopped playing chess two years ago!"

"...you're still the captain of the tennis team."

"...the tournament doesn't start till March."

"This article makes you look so damn good..."

"Because I _am_ that good!" I snap indignantly. "Well, once, anyway."

...actually, wasn't I just proving how I wasn't? Oh whatever, who cares, modesty is annoying.

"It says here that your photos have won awards...and that you won the All-Japan chess tournament..."

"...they missed the 2006 National Tennis Tournament."

"And you're only in Year 11 too..." Naruto said in awe. "How did you do all of that?"

...I'm a genius, can't you see?

"'Despite Hyuuga's girlfriend's talents, however, many are shocked by his choice. A girl in her chemistry class said 'I've never seen him _look _in her direction before! She's not good enough for him!' Another stated 'Oh yeah, Tenten's been chasing after Neji for months now, but I never thought she'd get him. Who knows, maybe she threatened him.'" Gaara looks up, smirking. "Flattering, isn't it?"

_He_ fucking blackmailed _me_, bitch!

Good thing we're the only ones in here, or else I'd just go strangle them, no, burn them then dump them in oil and then burn them again...

"Hey Gaara? I think Tenten's gone mad. She's whispering about burning people at the stake and stuff."

"What else did you expect?"

* * *

"So, Tenten, how was your geography write-up?" Lee asks me as we head to the dining hall for lunch.

"A star. You?"

"Aha! I have achieved the same standards as my talented friend! It's an honour!" He prances around, looking like some gay twit.

"...shut up..."

Lee stops bouncing around and falls back in stride with me.

"As we're on the subject of talent...about that newspaper article today...well, that leads me to the topic of Neji...why do think that...he wants to date you?" He asks me. Oh, so that's why he asked me. Great link, Lee...I glare at him, and he hastily adds "not that you're not desirable or anything, Tenten, quite the opposite, but...this_ is_ Neji Hyuuga..."

"I think it was my charm." I say sarcastically, kicking him as we walk. "And of course, my sunny smile!"

"I knew it was pointless asking you..." He sighs. "I suppose we'll just have to take our guesses. But, Tenten...do you know the reason, and you're just not telling us? Or...do you not know yourself?"

I'm caught by surprise by how serious he is. His usual wide grin is replaced by a worried frown.

"I just want an honest answer to that, Tenten." He exhales. "And I'm telling you now, I'd prefer the former to the latter."

I...

Lee? Is that really him?

"Of course I know the reason." I say, hitting him on the arm. "What, think I'm stupid? That was an insult to my intelligence, Lee."

His face lights up like a light bulb, and his usual cheesy grin is back in place. "That's such a relief, my youthful flower! I was so worried!"

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." I roll my eyes.

"You better not be lying, Tenten!"

"Do I look like I'm lying?"

_Everyone's a perfect actor when they need to be, Tenten..._

I open the door to the dining hall, and, to my horror, see Neji standing at the front of the room, delivering an angry lecture.

"How dare you judge whether she's good enough for me or not? You'd be blind to say that I've never been interested in Tenten. Don't you dare talk about her like that!"

For fuck's sake...does he_ really_ need to go that far?

I quickly back out of the room and close the door, leaning against it and breathing deeply.

"Tenten?" Lee looks at me quizzically. "Is something wrong?"

"...I'm not hungry, see you later." I mumble, before sprinting back to the dorms and into my room.

I've never felt like breaking something so much before.

IS IT HIS FREAKING MISSION TO MAKE EVERYONE HATE ME? IT'S NOT ENOUGH THAT I APPARENTLY 'STOLE' THE MOST WANTED BOY IN THE SCHOOL, HE HAS TO GO LECTURING TO THEM NOT TO MAKE FUN OF ME! HE MAKES ME FEEL LIKE A BULLIED FIVE YEAR-OLD! NOW THEY'RE ALL GONNA THINK I NEED ME BOYFRIEND TO GO SAVING ME WHENEVER I'M INSULTED-

I stop in my mental ranting, momentarily distracted by a loud crash.

My vase is on the floor. In pieces.

And there's a huge gash in my hand...

My hand is bleeding.

It's _bleeding_.

Ow,_ fuck._

_OW!_

I let out a muffled scream of pain and frustration, and feel tears spilling out of my eyes.

Damn Neji, this is all his freaking fault!

And my hand fucking_ hurts_!

I stumble into the bathroom and hold my hand under the water, wincing at the sting. There better not be any glass in there or I'll seriously murder someone...

I turn off the water and inspect my hand. Blood red's always been my favourite colour, it's so...I don't know, it's beautiful somehow...

Anyway. Check.

Thank God, there's no glass...

Now I just need to stop the bleeding before I bleed to death.

Where's the nurse again? Somewhere in this damn school...

Some way or another, I'm in the nurse's office ten minutes later, getting lectured about the dangers of playing with glass and sharp objects.

"And never do it again, understand?" She says, finally finished with wrapping the bandages around my hand.

"Yeah, I know..." I say meekly, backing out of the room.

Bitch...

As I'm walking back to get my bag before the bell rings for class, my phone rings. Yeah, we're not supposed to keep them on during school hours, but everybody ignores that rule anyway.

Who the hell would be calling me now?

I pull out my cell and glance at the screen.

**Neji Hyuuga**

Oh right. We exchanged numbers during lunch at our 'date'. So he could reach me whenever I was needed. What am I, a secretary?

Maybe I should just pretend I'm not here...

Ugh whatever.

"Hello?"

"Tenten. Where were you at lunch?" He sounds annoyed.

"Working."

"Next time, inform me before you decide not to show up when I expect you to. Are you wearing the necklace?"

I was supposed to? "...yes." I guess it wouldn't look good if I wasn't wearing the present my _beloved_ boyfriend gave to me...

"Good. Make sure you get to dinner tonight."

"Yeah, whatever, bye." I hang up.

Stupid Neji.

When I get back to my room, I take the necklace out of the box and put it around my neck. I should not be wearing this kind of thing in school...what can I wear to show off this thing? They only clothes I have in my wardrobe are shirts.

I take a look in Hinata's closet...

...purple. Every single shade of purple in the world-lavender, lilac, violet...hang on, what's that thing at the back...

A black V-neck sweater. Okay, cool, diamond makes a nice contrast against black...oh whatever, I don't freaking care...

I pull it on, and look at myself in the mirror. My pants are already black, so I guess it's okay...ugh, I have no idea, I've always had zero-fashion sense...most days I just grab whatever's on top of the pile.

Oh shit, the bell rang, I'm still in the dorms! I'm gonna be freaking_ late_!

I grab my bag, sling it over my shoulder and run as fast as I can to the school building.

"Sorry I'm late." I pant to Tsunade before going to my seat.

And Neji's sitting next to me again...perfect.

"Next time we go to Cartier, I'm buying you a watch..." Neji murmurs to me. His head is propped up by his left hand, his right hand taking down notes in his book. His long dark hair makes a curtain on one side of his head, before pooling onto the table.

Bastard. Does he always need to look like he's posing?

"I don't need a watch." I say to him shortly, twisting around in my seat to get my books out.

"What happened to your hand?" He says suddenly, loud enough for the people around us to hear.

"Accident." I shrug, turning around again.

He suddenly takes my hand in his and bends his head to kiss it briefly. Oh. That's why he asked me so loudly.

The girls around us start whispering excitedly. Too bad, no more to see.

Neji gives me back my hand and sits up straight, head bent down so his hair hides the smirk on his face. To the rest of the class, it must seem like he's embarrassed.

What am I supposed to do, sit here and grin at them?

After everyone's calmed down and focusing on the lesson again, Neji starts whispering to me.

"After lessons today, we're going for a walk on the grounds. Holding hands, kissing, sweet nothings...fine with you?"

"Would it make a difference if I said no?"

His lips twitch into an amused smirk. "I suppose not."

He puts his arm down on the table and sits up straight with a small sigh.

With a jolt, I realize that he's still wearing the bracelet I gave him. Without all the others from yesterday.

He sees me looking down at his wrist. "Oh, that. It was a random Christmas gift from someone. Anonymous, for once. I like it. Suits me more than all the other junk those girls give me every year."

"...it looks horrible." I say, looking away.

"Well, I'd prefer to wear something you gave me, to keep up pretences. Fortunately, you don't seem the type to give her boyfriend Christmas presents, so I don't have to come up with an excuse for you."

"Whatever..." I mumble distractedly.

...out of everything everyone's given him, he likes the one I gave him most? What kind of fucking...

Okay, if this is fate trying to tell me we're meant for each other, the only thing I have to say is, fate has a really fucked up sense of humour.

* * *

And now Neji and I are walking hand-in-hand along the grounds, in the orange glow of the late afternoon sun. Okay, that sounds too sappy.

...oh, I've got something...there's nothing around but grass, and the odd weed. And of course the huge mountains in the distance...

Oh, and let us not forget our little band of stalkers. Don't they have anything better to do, like_ study_? I would kill for some time to lock myself up in my room and just read a textbook until I fall asleep...

"Hey Neji?" I say abruptly, ruining the awkward silence.

"Hm?" He's got a small smile on his face, but from my angle, it looks like a condescending smirk. I don't know why he has to control his facial expression, the stalkers are always_ behind_ us anyway...

"How long will this be for?"

He shrugs. "Who knows. A couple of months, I'm guessing. The girls get bored soon."

To my surprise, when he talks about them, his face gets soft and there's a kind of fondness in his voice...I never thought a person like him could care about anyone else but himself. Whatever. I am obviously mistaken. Not that I care.

I'm bored shitless...what's the point of walking here?!

"...why do you do this for them? Don't _you_ ever get bored?" I ask innocently. Take the damn hint...

"They do it for us, as well. This kind of thing...it's supposed to keep us from getting bored. Of course, this is the first time a target has had to be forced into doing it. But my friends don't know that, and I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Target? I'm a_ target_?

Neji speaks again, and this time his tone is more business-like. "We have to kiss soon."

"Whatever."

He tilts his head to the side. I've figured out that he only does that when he's honestly puzzled. "I still find it strange, how little you seem to care about kisses. I need to ask the girls about it next time..."

I exhale. "A kiss is a sign of affection, love, friendship, forgiveness...we're not doing it for any of those. You shouldn't consider what we're going to do a kiss."

"Really? Is that how you think?" He looks curious.

"No." I snort. "A kiss is a kiss. It's my own damn choice whether I want to call it my first kiss or not. I was just saying that crap so you would shut up."

"...you're strange, Tenten."

I find my lips twitching into a smile. "I'm not some sentimental airhead."

"No, you don't seem the type to take things like that seriously...all the easier for me I suppose."

This time, instead of stepping in front of me, he turns me around to face him.

He doesn't hesitate this time. I guess he got over his guilt. Good.

I feel his lips press against mine. Both our eyes are wide open, our arms moving semi-naturally. He pushes me none too gently on the back. Taking the hint, I lean into him, telling myself _not_ to knee him in the crotch...

...I come so near to doing so, however, when I feel his tongue trying to get into my mouth.

Two can play at this game, bastard.

I quickly force my own tongue into his mouth, dominating the kiss. I feel smug when I see his already open eyes widen with surprise.

I pull back, smirking. Ha.

"You were strangely enthusiastic..." Neji comments, still looking a little surprised. "Falling for me already?"

"Oh, yeah, of course I am."

Does he really think I'm going to let him control me? Of course I'd rather shove my own tongue in his mouth than invite _his _into mine...

"Neji, I'm gonna play the embarrassed girl role and run back up to the dorms. I'm bored shitless and we're done here anyway." I call over my shoulder as I jog away from him.

He's chasing me. Great.

I break into a sprint, but I already know there's no point...

"Got you." I hear him breathe, before jumping onto me.

"Neji!" I shriek involuntarily as we both fall to the ground.

Why does he get to land on top of me? That's friggin' unfair...

I try to push him off, but the guy weighs a freaking ton.

"Get off me you bastard." I curse, trying to get free.

"They're still watching." I hate that smug grin on his face, if he got his fat body off my arm I'd seriously punch his face in...

He suddenly swoops down and kisses me, catching me by surprise. His tongue manages to get into my mouth, swirling around my own.

Gods that feels...

Bastard. Get off me!

I shove him off, and he lands flat on his back, still grinning. "I got my revenge."

"Yeah, pleased with yourself now?" I spit at him, standing up and brushing grass off myself.

Oops. People watching. Look flustered.

"You're one to talk. You were enjoying it." He accuses, eyes laughing. He's propped himself up on the grass with his elbows, chin in his hands, watching up at me with an amused expression.

"Human beings are meant to enjoy kisses, it's natural instinct. They're not meant to care about who's kissing them unless they want to." I roll my eyes, and start my way back up to the school.

He gets up and takes my hand, walking alongside me. "So you did enjoy it?" He says, amused expression still lingering on his face.

"So did you." Dammit, why do I have to hold his hand all the time?! It's all the freaking stalkers' faults, fuck them!

"And I'm not afraid to admit it. You, on the other hand, are."

"I just said I did!" What the fuck is wrong with him?!

"Say it in a sentence. Say 'I enjoyed kissing you, Neji.'" He smirks.

I roll my eyes. "I enjoyed kissing you, Neji."

He pauses for a moment, lavender orbs narrowing in thought.

Fool...words have no meaning unless you mean them.

"You're still so strange to me, Tenten. Tayuya was so much more predictable." He tosses his long hair back, almost hitting me in he face with it. Bitch, tie up your hair...

Oh. Tayuya was a target? I should've known...

"Maybe next time, you should write a script." I say to him sarcastically.

He rolls his eyes. "Even if I did, you wouldn't stick to it."

"Why wouldn't I? You have the upper hand in this situation, after all."

"Do you think I _want_ to sell you out, Tenten?" He asks me, frustrated.

Obviously you don't care about me enough to actually _want_ to do anything to me, mean or nice...

"I'm not saying you want to, I'm saying you can."

He makes an irritated noise. "You make me sound like such a villain, Tenten, but I would guarantee you that if you were in my position, you would be doing exactly the same thing. We're similar people, even if you don't want to admit it, Tenten."

I frown. "How so?"

He shrugs. "We're both ready to believe the worst in people...we both hold no value in sentimental or romantic actions...we both loathe our parents, and," here, he smiles, "the one thing we're concerned about above everything else is ourselves."

...how did he know...that last point...I never told him...

And...how is it that I never noticed that he feels the same way I do?

Come to think of it...has he deliberately been making me believe that he doesn't?

But then again...even when people share my views, I also come up with arguments to fight them with...

Damn Neji.

He's_ not_ right.

I need to...fix this...

"Your opinion of my character is completely wrong." I scoff, rolling my eyes. "You're an idiot. People lie, Neji."

"That's another thing." He says, still smiling. "We can both lie through our teeth to save ourselves without a ripple in our consciences. Just like you're doing now."

_Bastard._

"We're here." He says, stopping abruptly. "See you, Tenten." He kisses my hand, and disappears up the stairs, leaving me standing alone in the common room.

Neji is an idiot.

We're not the same. He was obviously lying about himself.

* * *

Finally! I got Hinata alone! No idea where the guys are, but whatever.

Hinata and I are in our room, both at our desks working. It's pretty much silent, except for my mumbling of 'what's 8 times 2?' to myself, and the scratching of pen on paper. Hinata's doing her math, a content smile on her face.

Perfect chance. I can catch her off guard.

"Hey, so Hinata, remember that call from Itachi you got the other day?" I ask casually, watching her out of the corner of her eye.

I see her freeze, her arm still outstretched in reaching for her calculator. Her face immediately (predictably...) flushes a deep red.

"Uh...y-yes?" She stammers, her arm falling onto her desk in front of her.

"Yeah, you know, I thought he sounded kind of...you know, friendly."

"W-we _are_ friends...I-I-I...h-helped him w-w-with a b-business deal..." She's stammering and stuttering even more in her nervousness. Ha. I knew it.

"Oh! So, you guys never went on a date, or anything?"

"N-n-n-_no_!"

"Really? I remember him saying something about going somewhere to celebrate?"

Her blush turns several shades darker. "I...th-that's not g-going to be a d-d-date...h-he wants to th-thank me..."

"Sure, Hinata." I laugh. Really, she's so funny when she's embarrassed...

"No, r-really, Tenten!"

"Okay, I get it. Friends." I put up my hands as a sign of defeat.

She lets out a relieved sigh.

"You know, Tenten...I'm surprised you're asking _me_ about this kind of thing now, out of all people." She says after she's calmed down enough.

What?

"What do you mean?" I ask her, frowning.

"I thought you'd be curious about Naruto." She suddenly giggles. "Lee found a...a mark on his neck yesterday, didn't he mention?"

"A mark? As in a_ hickey_?" I gasp in surprise. Naruto?!

"Yes. He was really evasive when we asked him about it." She giggles again. "I wonder who it is."

"Are you serious? _Naruto_?"

"Mmhmm. I think you can still see the mark."

I really need to ask him about that later...and beat the truth out of him, of course.

"I think Gaara knows who it is, though." Hinata says suddenly. "While Lee was interrogating Naruto, I think he was trying not to smirk. I mean, his mouth kept twitching. And I could see...something in his eyes. I could feel...he knows. I'm sure he knows."

...you see, that's the thing about Hinata. She's really silent and doesn't speak a lot, but she _watches_. And she has this strange kind of empathy...

"Well, I guess Naruto would tell Gaara. They're pretty close." I say.

"More so than the rest of us? I doubt that." Hinata frowns. She lets out a resigned sigh and shrugs. "I suppose we'll have to wait until he wants to tell us."

"Yeah, I guess..."

So many secrets floating around...first, Neji and I, then Hinata and Itachi, and now Naruto and some mysterious lover...

Ugh, why is everyone being so _secretive_ all of a sudden? Next thing you know, Lee and Gaara are gonna announce they're dating.

* * *

**Hmm, that last line is an idea, isn't it? lol, kidding.**

**I'm trying to update every week, but school starts this Monday, so I might not be able to. This chapter was written an hour after chapter six was uploaded and edited throughout the entire week anyway, so the next chapter may take twice as long seeing as I don't really want to start on it now, hehe...**

**Anyway, thanks for all your reviews so far, really, I love your reviews. Please review this chapter!**


	8. Feelings

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

I was going to respond to_ evenstar0008's _review here in this chapter, but I decided to do that next chapter and take this chapter to say this.

Tibet is not being suppressed. China is spending billions building a new railway for them so they can gain access to better education, healthcare and jobs. They're rioting to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games. They _wanted_ to merge with China in the first place, there was no invasion...fine, let Tibet go free, see how long before they beg to become part of China again. Tibet is so poor, it's actually a burden on China...

It's not like anyone cares about Tibet anyway. If the protestors can point out Tibet on a map, I'll be impressed. The western countries are just uncomfortable with China getting so powerful.

Anyway, enough of that, new chapter...

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

School trip. Greeeeeat.

And guess where we're going? Hong Kong! Isn't that fantastic?!

Yeah, sure.

I can't believe we're going to such a stupid, _stupid_ boring place...

And now we're on the plane.

You know, I was kind of looking forward to a few hours of peace away from that bastard 'boyfriend' of mine, but...

"Tenten, can you stop looking so pissed? Neither of us wanted this." Neji hisses barely audibly, so only I can hear.

"Yeah right." I snort.

"Don't flatter yourself. You think I actually enjoy spending time with you?"

"No Neji, I don't. Which leads me to ask _why_ exactly you are."

Neji's scowl deepens. "You know perfectly why. Now play your part before I tell everyone about your murderous parents."

What's with him today? He's unusually grouchy.

"Fine, fine..." I put a shy, hesitant smile on my face and take his cold hand.

It almost surprises me how easily my hand fits into mine. We've been doing it so much, I suppose we got used to it. Neji insists on walking hand-in-hand at sunset everyday for some absurd reason. And eating at our own table. And walking me to _every single fucking class..._

Two weeks ago, I would've loved this (assuming he actually liked me). I can't believe I actually had a crush on a blackmailing jackass...how stupid am I...

Well no, I'm not that stupid. He's rich, he's good-looking, blah blah blah. He was perfect, even 'nice'. At least it shows I have good taste, I mean, at that time I had no idea he was like this...

"Tenten, what are you thinking about? You're spacing out." He whispers to me, breaking through my thoughts.

"I was just thinking about you." I say, smiling sweetly at him. We're surrounded by the class, seriously, even if we do have window seats. I'm sure the two sitting behind us are listening to us avidly, and the ones in front of us are sneaking peeks at us every two seconds, and the people across the aisle-hang on, are those_ binoculars_?

This is bizarre.

"I think of you constantly." He says to me, his voice level normal for the benefit of those sitting around us.

"Neji..."

This is so fucking embarrassing. I'm almost glad that Neji is in every one of my classes, so my classmates don't get a single chance to pick on me. It's bad enough, hearing them sneer behind my back. And I know what they're thinking: it's a set up, she's paying him, she's threatening him...

Not one of them wants to believe it's real.

It's impossible for Neji Hyuuga to _actually_ want to go out with Tenten Tanaka.

They're right. Their basic idea anyway.

I rest my head on Neji's shoulder, and feel his head incline in approval.

I'm fucking tired...we had to get to the airport at _two_ in the frigging morning. What the fuck, couldn't they have booked a more _reasonable_ time...

* * *

**Neji**

_Tenten falls asleep on my shoulder, muttering something about cheap schools and fucking airports. Her language has never been fit for a lady..._

_The girls around us are really starting to irritate me. Their camera keeps flashing in my eyes every two seconds, and their chatter combined with the plane's whirring is just doing my head in. _

_Suddenly they all gasp as Tenten buries her face in my shoulder and gives a content sigh. They all wish they were her. _

_Not that I would mind. Some of the girls that keep chasing after me are quite good-looking. Most of them are rich. I have quite a good selection to choose from. _

_Yet Ino gives me this girl who doesn't give a damn about her looks, is only upper-middle class and has basically no __connections. _

_Actually, I shouldn't say she has no connections. She's my cousin's best friend-being close to a Hyuuga will always benefit you. And Temari's brother seems to be very close to her. The Sabakus have even more influence than us. _

_It wouldn't surprise me if she told me that was the reason she befriended those two. I'd do the same, in her position. _

_Tenten..._

_She doesn't realize it, but we're **so** alike...maybe it's because I make her do all the talking. I prefer to keep to myself. _

_She's quite interesting to talk to...smart girl, bound to do brilliantly in life...I suppose I'd like her more if she was more wealthy. _

_And pretty. I need to do something about that hair of hers...dye it? It's a rather dull shade of brown...and maybe we should get it straightened too, it's a bit wavy...oh, and she needs to get more sleep. She has dark purple bruises under her eyes, I wonder what she does all night...study, probably. I probably take up all of her time...not that I feel bad. I'm incapable of feeling bad for others, as I'm sure she is also. Her eyes are quite nice, I suppose...most of the time they have a sarcastic and condescending gaze in them, but during the rare times she's actually happy in my company...they glow with a warmth that my cold opal irises can never achieve. _

_Don't get me wrong. I am not attracted to this girl. I suppose intrigued would be a better word. After all, I've never found someone so much like me. I should talk to her more in Hong Kong, coax her into telling me more about herself. _

_I wonder how she'll take it when I break up with her though...probably go on living like she did before. _

_But how will she react when I tell everyone her secret?_

_I've always been planning to do so, of course. I think she knows that..._

_Sometimes a part of me tells me that she doesn't even care if I tell everyone her parents were murderers. That she used that as an excuse to go out with me..._

* * *

"Tenten. Tenten, sweetheart, we've landed, get up." Neji nudges me.

_Sweetheart?_

I crack my eyes open groggily, and yawn, stretching my arms out in front of me.

"Mmm...get me bags for me, will you Nej-Nej?" I saw to him innocently, reveling in his wince.

"Of course, _Tennie_."

"Thanks Neji-poo!" I can see the smile on his face starting to slip a bit. Haha, he's so sensitive about his name-

"No problem, my little panda bear."

_What did he call me?_

"How the hell am I a panda?!" I demand angrily.

"I was just recalling the way you did your hair on Christmas Day." He smirks. "You looked so much like a panda."

"Fuck off..."

* * *

A whole fucking free day. Where we get to go around with our friends and go shopping in Hong Kong.

But no...I'm stuck with my fucking_ 'boyfriend'_.

I seriously need to break something...

Right now, we're standing on the side of the street, reading a tourist pamphlet, making it obvious we're stupid tourists with no idea where the hell we're going.

"So, Tenten, where do you want to go?"

"To hell."

"And I'd be glad to send you there, but unfortunately, that's not an option. So pick something."

I roll my eyes. "I dunno...where's everyone else going?"

"Central, I suppose...they're some idiots going to Disneyland...and some are riding a tram or whatever up the Peak..." He puts the tourist pamphlet down and sighs. "You know what, lets just go to Ocean Park."

"What? _Why_?"

"Last time I went it wasn't bad." He says, waving at a taxi.

Oh. He's been here before? Maybe his uncle had a business trip or something...whatever, I don't care...

We climb into the taxi. "Hai Yang Gong Yuan." Neji says in perfect Mandarin, with barely a trace of an accent.

We arrive at the stupid park half an hour later. It's so freaking crowded, it takes us twenty minutes just to get a ticket.

"So, what do you want to ride?" Neji asks me once we get in, nose buried in a map.

"Hey Neji, there're no stalkers in here...can we just like, separate?"

He gives me an 'are-you-stupid?' look. "No."

"_Why_?"

"Because Tenten, I'd prefer to be with someone I despise, rather than walk around the park alone like some friendless delinquent. Not to mention the girls that might pester me if they saw me without a girlfriend."

I roll my eyes. "You're so full of yourself."

"It's called being honest, Tenten, a term I'm sure you're unfamiliar with."

"Oh haha, so clever Neji." I say sarcastically.

We end up riding on the cable car. We got a purple one. It's basically made out of glass except for the main frame, and inside there are six white plastic seats arranged in a small neat circle. I guess it's okay, quite pleasant...just boring. I have to sit here with Neji with absolutely nothing to do or look at, except trees.

"Tenten, talk." Neji says. He's leaning back in his seat, arms folded, staring at me.

"No." My arms is resting on the side of the window, and I'm looking outside at the stupid trees and greenery and the ocean below. I guess Hong Kong isn't that bad...the sea looks okay...

"You already know my threat."

"I also know that it is hollow."

"You want to take that risk?"

"There is no risk."

He gives an exasperated sigh. "Why are you so stubborn today?"

"Who knows..."

"Tell me anything about yourself...your friends?"

God he's annoying...I'd rather hear my own voice than his.

I sigh in defeat. "What do you want to know then?"

"Why did you befriend them?"

"I knew the Hyuugas were a rich and powerful family, so once I came to this school, I had two options: you, or Hinata. I chose Hinata because it was easier-she was so shy she didn't have any friends, and she was so happy when it seemed like I liked her." I doubt Neji would tell Hinata any of this. He doesn't care enough about her.

"And the others?"

"The Sabaku family is also very influential, so I had to choose between Gaara and Temari. I chose Gaara, because he had basically no friends. I had to go through Naruto to get to Gaara, because Naruto was the only one Gaara trusted."

"Lee..." I frown in thought. "To be honest, when I first met Lee, I thought he wasn't worth my time. No money, no connections, grades weren't special...but he kept trying. I suppose I admired his determination...I saw that he was destined for great things, so I recruited him."

Neji smirks. "Don't you feel guilty at all?"

"Of course not. We're all happy now, aren't we? If it weren't for my meddling, we'd all be alone and friendless. I did them a favour."

"You see it like that?"

"Don't you?" I shoot back at him, annoyed. "I honestly like them now, even if I didn't at the beginning. We would've become friends anyway. It was inevitable."

"I'm sure."

* * *

**Neji**

_"Your turn to tell me crap about your life." She says, still looking out the window. _

_I smirk. "Interested?"_

_She snorts. "No, I'm just evening it out. I'm not going to be the only one to share."_

_"What do you want to know?"_

_She shrugs. "I dunno...your relationship with Hinata?"_

_Of all topics..._

_"I love my cousin."_

_"Yeah sure Neji, that sounds really convincing." She says, rolling her eyes. "Tell me. It's not like I'll tell anyone."_

_"There's nothing to tell. I love Hinata." She knows I'm lying, I can see it in her eyes._

_"You hate her." She says simply. _

_"Excuse me? Wherever did you get that impression?"_

_"Tell me whether it's true."_

_"Of course it isn't." I lie smoothly. "I love my cousin."_

_"That's the third time you've said that, you know."_

_"Because you obviously didn't hear me the first two times."_

_A small smile curves her lips. "Why do you hate her?"_

_"I don't." She's bloody persistent isn't she..._

_"What would be so bad about telling me why?"_

_Nothing. I just don't want you to know, is that not a good enough reason?_

_"C'mon, if you don't tell me this, I won't tell you anything else about me." She says. She's still looking out the window. Her voice hasn't risen nor has the tone changed. Her posture doesn't match her words at all. _

_But I have no doubt that she means them. And I can't have that. I need to find out about Tenten..._

_"Why don't you guess?" I tell her. If she guesses right, I'll tell her. _

_"Oh I know exactly why. You resent her because she'll succeed Hiashi and not you." She finally turns to look at me, her gray brown eyes gazing into mine. "Now you're going to tell me I'm wrong."_

_Is it that obvious that I hate the girl?_

_"On the contrary, I'm going to tell you you're right."_

_"Ah. Now this is where I tell you you're wrong." She's looking out the window again, her elbow resting on the side of it, her face tilted upwards at the sun, the wind blowing her hair slightly. She looks...peaceful. I'm so distracted by her posture, that I almost miss her words. _

_Wait...I was wrong?_

_What?_

_"You can succeed Hiashi." She says slowly. _

_"You're wrong." It comes out more venomously than I intended. _

_"No, you are."_

_"You don't what the hell you're talking about." My fists are clenched, I realize, and my voice is a growl. But I can't bring myself to care that I'm showing her my emotions. "I can never succeed my uncle. Hinata will, because she is his daughter. My uncle...when my father died, he inherited my father's business. It made him twice as rich as he already was." My voice is shaking with anger. "What was once my father's, what was supposed to be mine, it's all Hiashi's now. And it'll all go to Hinata. Just because that idiot father of mine never wrote a will. He left me...he left me with nothing. For the rest of my life, I'll have to work under Hinata, never be allowed to surpass her. I can't do better than her in anything, even if I have the capability. I have to support her my whole life, never work alongside or above her. I'll always be under her. I'm..."_

_**I'm trapped.** _

_"I'm trapped in a cage from which I can never escape." The wind has stopped. It feels like the world has silenced to listen. "This is my fate. My father's fate was to die young. My fate is to always...be suppressed. To work under Hinata. Even if I have the ability...I have to...I am expected to..."_

_**I'm trapped.**_

_"That's where you're wrong." My head snaps up in shock. _

_"Who says you have to work under Hinata? Who says you have to suppress yourself? If you can surpass her, then do it. You're the only one holding yourself back." She's looking at me...her eyes..._

_"You don't actually resent Hinata. You tell yourself you do. You only impose those restrictions on yourself because...you're grateful to Hiashi."_

_How..._

_"You're grateful to him, for taking you in after your father died. You do love Hinata. You're not angry at your father. You know it wasn't his fault. You love him. You're not trapped at all, Neji. You have the key to your cage. But..." Her eyes are faraway now, looking off into the distance. "You tell yourself you hate everyone, that it's everyone else's fault. Not because you actually think that, but because...you don't want anyone that you're actually capable of...love...pity...gratitude...forgiveness...sentimental feeling. You don't want to acknowledge those feelings because they make you...weak."_

_How did she..._

_How can she..._

_**What is she?**_

_"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME?!" Before I know what I'm doing, I've already pounced on her, holding her up by the collar of her shirt. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! MY FATHER WAS AN IDIOT! HE LEFT ME WITH NOTHING! HE DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ME! MY UNCLE GOT IT ALL, AND HE'S GOING TO GIVE IT TO HINATA! I'LL NEVER HAVE IT! IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT! DON'T GIVE ME THAT BULLSHIT! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! YOU...YOU'RE JUST...I'VE NEVER..."_

**_I've never told you anything about myself, but why is my wall transparent to you?_**

**_I barely know you, but why can you see through me?_**

_She doesn't say anything. I'm still holding her by the collar of her shirt, so close that our noses are almost touching. She gazes into my eyes, her own eyes smiling. _

_"Tell yourself what you want, Neji. It makes you feel stronger. I know...exactly how it feels."_

_The cable car doors hiss as they slide open. _

* * *

We're walking in silence. Neji seems to be...thinking.

To be honest, I never knew he was like that until he started talking about his family.

He was right...we _are_ alike...

Okay, whatever, this is stupid. We paid 800HKD to get in here, and the only thing we've done is ride the cable car.

Plus, if we go on a ride, maybe Neji will stop looking so scary.

I look around, and see a ride with no queue.

"Neji, lets go there." I pull him over to it. He looks up, irritated.

"What?" He snaps.

"This 'Raging River' thing. I want to try. Lets go." I'm already stepping into a boat.

Neji exhales sharply, and climbs in after me. "Fine." He hisses.

The boats starts moving in a dark tunnel, then out of it and up a belt...hey, it's really steep, what if we fall back down...

Well, at least Neji's sitting behind me. He can cushion me, or something.

The boat reaches the top, and tips downward slightly, and we're going down a waterway. The sides of the boat bumps the sides of the thing at every turn.

"This is supposed to be fun?" I hear Neji ask.

"Well, it looked fun. There was water, and everything."

"This is a children's ride."

"Oh shut up..."

We go into another tunnel, and turn a corner...

Oh. I see it.

The drop.

We're getting over of the tunnel, and a scary cackle echoes in the tunnel.

"Uh Neji?"

"What?"

"I don't think this is a children's - RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!" I scream as we're suddenly plunged downwards.

SPLASH!

I'm fucking drenched.

Fuck!

Neji better be wetter than me...

I twist around in my seat-and nearly die of laughter.

Neji's hair is dripping, hanging in front of his face. This is the first time I've ever seen him look less than perfect. He looks like some sea-monster.

Then, suddenly, to my immense surprise, Neji starts lauhging too.

"You should've heard yourself." He sniggers. "Riiide!"

"You look like a bloody sewage ghost." I gasp. My chest hurts from laughing.

"You look like a wet dog." He retorts, chuckling. "C'mon, we need to get out."

"Okay." I climb out, recovering from my laughter.

Neji takes out his now drenched map and examines it. "There's a roller-coaster called the Dragon. Want to try?"

"Sure."

"I'm interested in hearing how loud you'll scream."

"Hey!"

* * *

**You know how many times I had to write this chapter...the first time I wrote it, it was going too fast (my friend Shikyo no Amatsu Shinsei also agreed) and the second one was also rushing things...this one is okay, I guess...I wanted to put in Neji's family crap later, but I thought it would be okay here...**

**Talking about the original chapter 8 (which will become chapter 10 or 11), do you mind lemons? You can say yes or no, you're the ones giving me the reviews...I can cut it out, it'll still work...**

**I'm going to die now...german aurals on Wednesday, then Mandarin GCSE, then exam week, then my fourteenth birthday which will not be celebrated in any way...**

**Oh well anyway, thanks for all your reviews so far! When you review this chapter, please remember to answer the lemon question! (oh, and if you don't know what a lemon is, don't worry about it :)**

**(When I first uploaded this chapter, I was in a rush, and my mom was yelling at me to hurry, and I forgot that I hadn't put it through spell check, so in case any of you are re-reading this, sorry!)**


	9. Their own Happiness

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Many thanks to kiwipie, my sister and beta-reader who has checked every single one of my chapters in my fanfiction life, or whatever. Unfortunately, she will not be checking my next chapter for me (lemon...) because she is too young. My friends refuse to read it for me because they want it to be a _published_ surprise. So, if it sucks, it's not _my_ fault :)**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

We walk out of the shop, my hand not in his for once, because I'm ripping open a bag of candy. I wonder what these taste like...I saw them sitting on the shelf invitingly, and decided to try some...

We've just tried another ride after the Raging River thing, the Eagle. It's okay, I guess...you sit in this open-air compartment shaped like an eagle (surprise surprise) and the whole thing goes up, spinning round and round...very interesting, yes?

"Candy?" I ask Neji, holding the bag out towards him. He reaches out for one, and puts it in his mouth.

"How is it?"

He raises an eyebrow. "You used me as a guinea-pig to taste some strange candy?"

"Duh."

He chews thoughtfully for a few moments, and I can see a small smile curving his lips.

Does it taste that good? "Neji, how is it?" I ask curiously, in case he's putting on an act to make me eat crap...

"Good." He replies simply, reaching for another one.

"Yeah okay, but what does it taste like?" Because I hate grape flavour, strawberry flavour, watermelon flavour...I basically only like orange and lemon. And no, I am not picky. The others just taste like crap.

Neji turns his head towards me, smirking. "It tastes like you."

"...excuse me?"

He suddenly crashes his lips against mine, his tongue invading my mouth, in front of everyone in the damn park.

...there's a faint taste of...what is it? It's not unpleasant...

Neji pulls away. "Like it?"

Bastard...

I punch him in the arm. "No."

"Really? You know you taste like this? At first it tastes sour, but tainted with some sweetness. Then the sour taste fades, and only that sweet flavour remains."

"I'm so flattered." I say sarcastically.

He smiles. "I'll admit, I do sometimes enjoy kissing you. But then, I also liked kissing Tayuya. It's the kissing I like, I suppose, not the girl..."

"I hate kissing you. I guess if it were someone else, I'd enjoy it more." I snap at him.

Why do I feel...slightly stung by his-

No. He's stupid.

What's 8 times 2, what's 8 times 2...

Neji takes the bag of candy from my hands, snapping me out of my daydream. "Getting defensive, it's cute." he says casually, popping another candy in his mouth. "Falling for me already, Tenten?"

"You wish."

"No, I don't actually. But you can relax, though. You taste_ much_ better than Tayuya."

Ha. Take that bitch.

* * *

I hate Neji.

We've been trailing around the stupid park for the whole fucking day.

Which was pretty fun, I guess. It's just that Neji _likes_ going on _every single stupid freaking ride_. We've been on the Dragon, the Mine Train, the Space Wheel and even the fucking _Abyss_...

And I've been screaming my head off the whole way. To Neji's amusement. And my immense _annoyance. _Seriously, he just has this stupid _smirk_...

Neji can be pretty fun when we're not around other people though...he bought me crap...and he took me on everything I wanted to try too...

So, we've ended up in the jellyfish aquarium place on my request. It's so late that most people have left already, so we've basically got the place to ourselves. It's really dark in here, so you can see the cool jellyfish in their glowing tanks.

How cute.

Neji tugs on my hand, bringing me out of my daydreaming.

"Tenten, it's dead." He says, pointing in a small tank.

"Wow Neji, I've never seen a dead jellyfish before." I say sarcastically.

"You were so excited over the big fish, I thought you'd be fascinated with a dead jellyfish."

"Fuck off."

And those fish were fucking _huge_. I've never seen such humongous fish before. Fish _cannot_ grow that big...I bet it was because of the convex glass or something...

Neji's dragging me to another room now, which is also empty. The glowing multi-coloured lights in the darkness just make the jellyfish seem like aliens...they're all in huge pillars made of glass filled with water, floating around spookily...

Come to think of it, Neji's hair looks quite nice in the lights. And so does his face...can't see much else, since he's wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with a collar and jeans. He looks pretty good...I mean, if I have to walk around with the guy, he could at least be good-looking.

We're walking slowly past all the pillars in the seemingly endless corridor. It's so dark, we can't see the end from here...wait what the hell is that?

I drag Neji over to a huge tank. Ah. A Portuguese man-o-war jellyfish. I thought so...

Can I just dump Neji in there to die? Then I can go on living my perfect life, whoo hoo...

"Are you only interested in big, deadly jellyfish, Tenten?" Neji asks, staring at the monstrosity inside the tank with me.

"What, it's cute."

"...you have very strange taste."

"You're girly, you only like the tiny ones." I retort, straightening up to keep on walking. "C'mon, the other jellyfish are waiting."

But as I try to walk past to the path, Neji's hand yanks mine back, stopping me.

I turn around in surprise, feeling pissed. That _hurt_.

"You know Tenten, I ran out of that candy quite a while ago." He says to me conversationally.

"So what?"

"I rather miss it."

Oh. I see.

"Then lets go get some more." I'm playing dumb, seeing how he's going to react...

He pulls at my hand hard, and suddenly I'm trapped between the tank and his body.

He bends his head down, and our lips are locked in a kiss, his tongue exploring every crevice in my mouth...

Okay, fine, so Neji is a good kisser. Whatever...

Except you know, even though it's dark and everything, it's not very romantic, kissing a guy while being pressed into the tank of a huge poisonous jellyfish. Not that it's supposed to be romantic. I'm just supposed to be satisfying his 'needs'...how dignifying.

I hate you...

He pulls back with a shake of his head, a pleased smile on his face. "Let's leave."

I roll my eyes. Bastard...

"Next time, just buy more candy."

"Hm, yes, I suppose I could do that. But the candy doesn't have the same heat. Or the same edge of hatred that I enjoy." He says matter-of-factly.

How the hell can you _taste_ hatred? Idiot...

* * *

**Narrator**

_Gaara sat on the wall, letting the breeze blow his deep red hair back from his face. His eyes were faraway, looking into the sun dipping below the horizon, filled with an indescribable emotion of sadness and pain. _

_Below him, Naruto and Sasuke were making out on a bench in a hidden and secluded corner of the hotel garden, stealing whatever happiness they could share in their limited time alone. _

_What he would give for that kind of love. The way his eyes shone as he looked into the eyes of the other. They way they held hands and whispered secrets in each other's ear. The way they would chat idly for hours, laughing together. _

_Gaara's fist clenched. Gods, how he **hated** Naruto. Naruto, Naruto, Naruto...always so happy, always so carefree, completely ignorant of the complications in the lives of others..._

_Yet Naruto, the one most undeserving of happiness, was the one granted with it. What had he done to deserve it? Gaara thought bitterly. An idiot who would do no good for the world, have something that Gaara himself wanted so badly...why should that blond idiot have it and not he? __His love was just as forbidden, just as pure. Why did that girl have to be..._

_He imagined her blonde hair, her posture, the beautiful contempt in those tinted blue eyes, and immediately felt a painful stab in his heart. That girl...he could never have..._

_Gaara had told his brother one drunken night, of the girl he loved. Kankuro had reacted with horror and disgust, telling him that she was not possible for him to be with, that he had to live up to the family expectations..._

_There was a reason his sister was at this school, and his brother was...not._

* * *

_"Temari, there you are! Have you heard the good news?" Ino asked smugly._

_The other girl rolled her eyes. "Yamanaka's stock is higher than Sabaku's, I know. Congratulations."_

_"No need to be so bitter, Temari!" Ino chimed. "Lets go out and celebrate!"_

_"It's a celebration for you, not for me." She replied, rolling her eyes. "You should've heard my father this morning. He called me to remind me of the charity ball, but it was more like to just yell at me."_

_Ino turned curiously. "Your father called?"_

_"Apparently he heard rumours that I was 'fraternizing with the enemy'. I'm not allowed to be friends with the heiress of our largest competitor." Temari said sourly._

_Ice-cold blue eyes narrowed. "Who spread the rumours?"_

_She looked up at the sky. "Who knows? Meanwhile, I think I shouldn't be seen with you until we get back to Japan."_

_"Of course." Ino replied crisply. "That would be for the best."_

_Temari sighed. "Don't get angry at **me**. It's my father."_

_"And you always do everything Daddy says." The taller girl didn't miss the note of mockery in her tone._

_But she also didn't miss the hurt shielded in her best friend's well-practiced eyes. Although not many would have believed it, Ino was extremely sensitive. But a girl of her financial status and position was not allowed to let her vulnerability show, and she, like many other girls like her, had learned to hide it._

_But it's not as easy to hide it from perceptive friends._

_"Okay, fine, lets go." Temari relented, putting her arm through Ino's. "Come on, the bar's just downstairs."_

_A smile made it's way across Ino's face again. "I'll take pity on the loser and pay, then."_

_Temari rolled her eyes again. "Remind me, how many times have Sabaku won?"_

_"Stop ruining my joy."_

_The two girls laughed, and walked down the stairs together, arm in arm. Many heads turned to stare at the two beautiful and distinguished ladies as they descended the stairs, the smiles on their faces adding to their unrivalled beauty._

* * *

"Oooh Lee, look! Pink dolphins!" Naruto cries ecstatically, leaning over the railing and pointing far ahead of the boat.

"Where, my youthful comrade! I must see these beautiful creatures!" Lee exclaimed, hopping onto the railing next to Naruto.

"They're just some stupid fish, geez..."

"Tenten, dolphins are mammals." Gaara corrects me lazily.

"Fish, mammals, all the same."

We're leaning back in deckchairs out in the sun on the deck, watching the two idiots drag Hinata to the railing to see the pink dolphins. They wanted to rent a stupid boat and go out and see dolphins on our last day in Hong Kong. _Dolphins_.

Neji let me free today, anyway. Last day, go spend it with some friends. Or something along those lines.

We ended up taking the Hyuuga yacht that was sitting around in Hong Kong with nothing to do. It's huge and white, and scarily intimidating. But Gaara and Hinata just waltzed on board like it was nothing. Brats...she even has a captain or whatever to drive the boat wherever she wants.

So we're just speeding through the sea, in some place where you're supposed to be able to see dolphins.

"Tenten, come see the dolphins, they're so _cute_!" Naruto calls. "Come on or you'll miss them!"

"Fine, fine." I get up and walk over to him, peering over the edge. "I don't see any dolphins."

"There, there!"

...fine, so they're kinda cute. They just splash up and down in the water alongside our boat, flashes of dull pink in the murky green water. Apparently you can only find pink dolphins in Hong Kong because the pollution makes their skin like that, or something.

"Hey Gaara come see." I wave at him. "Only place to see pink dolphins."

"There's the zoo."

"Goin' to a zoo sometime soon?"

Gaara sighs, and comes over. "So what. They're pink. How fascinating."

"Be more enthusiastic, Gaara!" Lee cries. "Let us take a group picture!"

"A-alright." Hinata says, waving one of the crewmen over. She hands an expensive new camera to him, and we all pose against the railing.

"Oi Lee, quit shoving me!" Naruto yells.

"Sorry, my youthful friend!"

"G-Gaara, get in the p-picture."

"Tenten's not in the picture, why do I have to be?"

"I'm in here!"

Suddenly there's a blinding flash, and everyone blinks.

"You _idiot_." Gaara hisses at the guy holding the camera. "I'm leaving." He stalks off inside the boat and goes to the cabins below deck.

"Lets see, lets see!" Naruto snatches the camera, and peers at the screen. "Wow, I look hot!"

"No, you look like an idiot."

"Tenten!"

"I-it's okay, Naruto, you look f-fine."

Somehow we all made it into the picture. Naruto and Lee are at the back of the picture, Naruto shoving an apologetic looking Lee. Hinata, Gaara and I are in the front. Hinata is in the middle, looking like she can't decide whether she should turn left or right to get me or Gaara. I'm standing in the left, looking grumpy. Gaara stands on Hinata's right, looking pissed.

Great picture.

"This is awesome! It's like, a memoir!" Naruto laughs.

"...where did you learn that word..."

* * *

**Narrator**

_Hinata checked her watch as she left her suite. It was 11:00-past bedtime. She had to leave now. _

_She walked out into the corridor quietly, and entered a lift, pressing for the ground floor. When she stepped out, she looked around the lobby nervously. She wasn't sure whether he would really..._

_"Hinata." She turned around in surprise as the deep voice came from behind her. _

_Itachi Uchiha, wearing a flawless designer tuxedo, long hair tied up in a elegant ponytail, smiling at her warmly. His dark eyes ran over the girl in front of him. _

_Hinata held her breath as her escort fell silent. She was wearing a ivory fur-trimmed cashmere evening dress from Valentino, thousands of dollars worth of intricate hand beading on the front. The dress clung tightly to her slim frame, accentuating her curves and her elegant figure. The large fancy purple-pink diamonds surrounded by smaller white diamonds hanging from her ears and neck emphasized her already large exquisite eyes, reflecting the kindness and innocence in the depths her opal irises. A large diamond ring adorned one of her slender fingers (her father had a ten carat minimum when he bought her jewelry). Her long lavender hair was done up in curls, framing her porcelain face delicately. _

_The effect was breath-taking._

_"You look beautiful tonight, Hinata." He whispered, pressing his lips to her hand. _

_She blushed adorably. "Th-thank you."_

_"Lets leave then, shall we? The car's outside."_

_She nodded, and took his arm, allowing her to lead him out the doors. _

_Many of her classmates were already at the charity ball when she arrived. It was one of the most important events in Hong Kong that year, inviting rich businessmen and their families from all around the globe. _

_She looked around herself, and saw Gaara standing in the large, echoing ballroom, a glass of champagne in his hand, and a tall, beautiful brunette clinging onto his other. As his jade green eyes met hers, his lips curved upwards in a friendly smile, before turning back to the man he was talking to. _

_"Come, Hinata, lets dance." Itachi said, pulling her out onto the vast dance floor where many young couples were already waltzing to the music from the violinists and pianists, apparently flown in from Austria just to play here. _

_She absently registered that Temari, Sasuke, Neji, Sakura and Ino were also present, before Itachi pulled her close to him, and the rest of the world just whirled past her, and the only thing she could see were Itachi's dark eyes gazing adoringly into her own. _

* * *

**I realized that I haven't updated in a long time, so I'm just posting this chapter to show I'm alive...**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, please leave a review!**


	10. The Inevitable

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

First of all, sorry for not updating in so long! I had exams and projects, and when the holidays started I went a bit crazy with all the anime and manga I didn't have time for before. Also, sorry, but I decided to take the lemon out. I'm sorry, but it was taking too long. I completely forgot about fanfic while I was watching and reading and everything, and then one day I suddenly got a review that was asking me whether I planned to finish this fic or not. Then I came back here and realized I hadn't updated in over two months, hehe, and that my original chapter 10 wasn't even half done, so I quickly typed this up. Anyway, this one has more...fluff? More like 'friendshippy' stuff...whatever it is...

Okay, enough of my excuses, thanks for being so patient. To avoid confusion, this chapter starts from where chapter nine left off. Also, as a result of her denial, Tenten has now developed an inner mind that shall be portrayed in _italics _during her POV. Right, now onto the chapter, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

_Neji took a sip of champagne, nodding as his escort continued talking. Hiashi had told him to bring this girl tonight...he had just met her half an hour ago, and he already hated her. She kept talking about herself and her accomplishments, giving Neji a sidelong glance every now and then to see whether he was impressed. _

_He certainly was not. _

_"And of course, I won the competition. Have you ever played piano, Neji?" She asked, pausing. _

_Neji nodded. "Yes, although I doubt I play as well as you do."_

_"Oh Neji!" She giggled at his false flattery. Judging from the list of songs she was playing, she was probably on grade three. _

_Yuiko Hanamura; her father owned a luxurious hotel chain. She was tall, with sleek, straight highlighted brown hair hanging down to her shoulders and pale brown eyes. She bore a slight resemblance to Tenten, Neji thought absently, and subconsciously began to compare the two. _

_He had thought Tenten's hair colour was dull before, but this girl's hair was an even more boring shade, despite the expensive highlights. Tenten's hair seemed softer somehow, more like caramel. And the eyes...Tenten's eyes were much deeper than hers, more warm..._

_"Neji." He turned at the sound of his name. _

_"Ino." He smiled genuinely for the first time that night. "I thought you weren't coming tonight."_

_"Oh, I wasn't, but then Sasuke needed someone to come with him; he desperately wanted to come tonight, ever since he heard his brother was here as well.__" Ino rolled her eyes. "Sakura and Temari were snapped up the minute we landed."_

_"And you?"_

_"I wasn't even planning to come here; I declined all offers." She smirked. _

_"Oh, Ino Yamanaka." They both turned to look at Yuiko, surprised. "Remember me? We were at that party last Christmas, at Sakura's place."_

_"Oh, yes, Yuiko. Hello." Ino turned back to Neji after her brief greeting. "Have you two danced yet?"_

_"No, we were talking." _

_"You can't spend the whole night talking! Come Neji, humour me. Lets dance." Ino pulled him onto the dance floor, winking at him. _

_Neji murmured a quick apology to Yuiko before following Ino. He pulled Ino closer to him and began to lead. There were many couples on the dance floor, but Neji and Ino were by far the most flashy; one gorgeously handsome, the other stunningly beautiful, and the most skilled dancers in the room. _

_"Thank you." Neji said to her gratefully once Yuiko was out of earshot. _

_Ino giggled. "You looked like you needed saving."_

_"Shouldn't you be dancing with Sasuke?" He asked, arching an eyebrow. _

_"Have you _seen _Sasuke? He's brooding somewhere in the room, trying to think of how to confront Itachi. Who, by the way, is here with your cousin."_

_"I know." _

_"You don't seem very interested."_

_"Should I be?"_

_"I suppose not." He spun her around. "We're all going to be exhausted tomorrow."_

_"I'm exhausted enough. Walking around with Tenten is not easy." Neji told her. "I need to find away to get out of the trip tomorrow."_

_"Where did you go with Tenten?" Neji noticed that she had slowed down. _

_"That amusement park."_

_"Did you have fun?" She asked casually._

_Neji watched her intently, wondering what she wanted him to say. "No." He answered finally. "Of course not."_

_He didn't miss the fact that she picked up their rhythm immediately after his reply. "I'm not surprised."_

_They continued dancing in silence. _

_Not for the first time, Neji saw that the line between his friendship with Ino was slowly blurring. _

* * *

"He has a high fever. I've given him some medicine, but I'm afraid that he won't be able to go out with the class today. He'll have to stay in bed." The elderly doctor says, frowning at the thermometer in his hand.

Ugh, Neji is so friggin' _weak_. Getting a stupid_ fever_ on the last day of the trip...

Neji's sitting up on his bed now, making an effort to look dignified in front of the teacher, but he looks like he's dying to lie down and curl up in the sheets. He's shivering slightly, I notice, and deathly pale.

"Well, someone's going to have to stay behind and look after him while we're out." Kurenai says, frowning.

No way in hell am I going to stay here with this bastard (yes, he's a bastard no matter how sick he is) while everyone else gets to go out.

"I'll do it." Ino volunteers immediately, her eyes filled with concern. I just can't believe she can actually care about another human being. But whatever, as long as I don't have to do it. I don't give a shit about Ino; personally, I hope she catches whatever Neji's got.

"But Tenten's his girlfriend, right?" Sakuno says from the doorway, where the rest of the class is standing, peering in curiously. "Shouldn't she be the one to stay with him?"

Shut up, you stupid, stupid bitch...

Aw fuck. Too late...Sakura, Temari, Ino, Sasuke and Kurenai's eyes are on me now. Neji's friends look like they want me to get the hell out of here (which I wouldn't mind, by the way), but Kurenai looks like she's deliberating.

"Would you mind terribly, Tenten?" She asks me.

Yes, I would mind freaking terribly...

"No, of course not." I smile at her cheerfully, tilting my head to one side. Oh wait, should I look concerned? My 'boyfriend' looks like he's dying, after all..."But if one of _them _wants to do it..." I gesture at the four standing around Neji. "I know they're really worried about Neji...as I am, of course."

Temari turns her head to glance at me, and I see that her brow in creased in slight confusion. She was probably expecting me to throw myself at Neji or something.

Ino's about to volunteer herself again, but Sasuke speaks before she does.

"No, Tenten, you stay." Why is he talking to _me_? "I'm sure Neji wants you here most. And besides, you're probably more worried about him than we are."

Why is he looking at me like that...

"Yes, you stay with him, Tenten." Sakura seconds, smirking. "You are...really precious to him. Neji wants you here more than us, isn't that right, Neji?"

I hate her. I really do.

Neji just nods wearily at her question; he probably hasn't listened to a single word of this conversation.

Ino looks at me scornfully (bitch), and opens her mouth to speak, but Sakura quickly leans over and whispers something in her ear. She pauses for a moment, nods, gives me a dirty look, and sighs. "Yes. It's best for Tenten to stay with him."

Fuck them. _I hope they burn in hell. _

Kurenai nods. "Then it's decided. Tenten, make sure he rests and takes his medicine in six hours, alright? And if there's any trouble at all, _call me_."

"Alright..." I reply, trying not to sound too gloomy. "Have fun."

Everyone waves goodbye to Neji with the customary 'get well soon' wish, and troops out. Sasuke and Ino are last to leave. Sasuke whispers something to Neji, who seems to be more alert now. Ino takes Neji's hands in hers, and promises to bring something back for him. As she passes me on her way out, she gives me a dangerous glare.

"If he is not better by the time we get back, I will make sure you pay. Is that understood?" She hisses to me venomously.

What, she's expecting his fever to subside in ten hours? It's going to take three fucking days, you _moron_. "My only concern right now is Neji's health." I tell her quietly. "You don't need to worry."

She rolls her eyes and leaves the room, slamming the door behind her as she exits the suite.

"For God's sake Neji, lie down before you faint." I wrench the blanket off the bed and shove him down on it, before throwing the blanket on top of him.

He groans loudly, burying his face into the pillow. "And those people call themselves my friends, leaving me with someone like you while I'm sick..."

"I'm flattered." I say sarcastically, pulling a bottle of water out from the mini-refrigerator. "Keep talking like that and I'll leave you here to die."

"I believe there's a larger chance of that while you _are _here." He rolls over, pulling the blanket his head. "Let me sleep, Tenten."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I place the water on the bedside table. "Water's here, I'm there, medicine in six hours."

"Mmmmm..."

Stupid Neji. Why does he need someone to watch over him? He's just gonna sleep the whole freaking day...ugh, I'm already bored.

I sit on the couch by the window and stare out at the cars zooming by. Maybe I could slip out and do some shopping, the shops are only across the road...I can already see Louis Vuitton, Prada and Dior from where I'm sitting. It's eleven...I only need to be back by five to give him the medicine...

I turn to look back at Neji, sighing.

Oh. I guess he can look kind of cute sometimes. He's lying on his side, eyes closed, some of his hair hanging off the side of the bed, looking like an innocent child. Without the contempt and smugness in his eyes, he...looks beautiful.

I suddenly find myself kneeling beside his bed, a strand of his long brown hair twined around my finger. Without thinking, I lift my other hand to touch his cheek, flushed from the fever. It's warm...his skin feels so smooth and soft against my hand...his features seem delicate in his sleep, without the self-confident aura he always emits. I press my forehead to his, and close my eyes.

I remember...someone used to do this to me...

_'Do you have a fever, Tenten?'_

_'Don't worry, Mommy's here...'_

_'I'll always be right here for you, so don't be scared, alright? You'll feel better soon, I promise...'_

_'Mommy, your skin's so cold...' _

_'That's because you have a fever, Tenten.'_

I open my eyes...

To look into large pools of soft lavender.

Neither of us move for a few moments.

"It's not recommended to stay so close to a sick person, Tenten." Neji says quietly.

"You should be asleep."

He chuckles sleepily. "Not very easy to do with you right there."

I pull away, smiling slightly. "Go back to sleep, you moron. Ino threatened me; apparently you have to be healthy by the time she gets back. Can you do that?"

"If you want me to sleep, let me sleep."

"Hey, it's not like I wanted you to wake up. I enjoy life a lot more when I don't have to hear your voice." I stand up and walk to the window, drawing them together.

"So you like my face, but not my voice, is that it?" Bastard sounds amused.

"I don't like any part of you, don't flatter yourself." I reply, rolling my eyes.

"Then would you please explain to me why you were so close to me when I was asleep?"

I turn around. Neji's propped himself up on his elbow now, his head tilted to one side, gazing at me with a mixture of curiousity and amusement on his face.

I don't need to explain myself to him. Anyway, he should be asleep.

"Take a drink and go to sleep." I tell him, unscrewing the cap on the bottle of water and handing it to him.

"So, I'm visually appealing to you, you just hate my voice?" He presses cheerfully.

_I don't hate your voice, I hate the things you say. _

"Drink."

He sighs and takes the bottle from my hand, taking an obedient slurp before putting it back on the table. "I can see there's no point in talking to you."

"Oh, you just noticed?" I roll my eyes and stalk out of the bedroom, slamming the door after me.

* * *

**Neji**

_Talking to Tenten is so frustrating..._

_Was she attracted to me before? Sasuke said she was...I really didn't notice. With so many more distinguished admirers, I never noticed Tenten. I never noticed her before Ino assigned her to me...she was just one of the smarter girls in my classes. I knew she was one of Hinata's few friends, but I never acknowledged her..._

_But now, I can't help wishing that I had. Perhaps some additional information about her would help me when I'm talking to her. Tenten doesn't 'talk'. She swears at me, she lies, she agrees sarcastically, but she doesn't 'talk'. Well, I suppose she does preach, like that day in the cable car. I cannot forget that incident. Tenten, she...she knows me better than my friends, who I've known for years...we've been 'dating' for only a few months, yet..._

_My friends..._

_Ino...she said...Ino threatened her? Strange...Ino would...never do that to a target...at least...I don't remember..._

_The fever is making my thoughts jumble together, I can't think properly...I should get some rest before I start losing coherency. _

* * *

Neji's suite is friggin huge. Ugh, I can't believe I got stuck in a crappy room with Lee and Naruto while he gets _this_...being a stupid scholarship student sucks sometimes.

I'm in the living room now. There's a huge window on one side, a sofa, two chairs and a TV. I'm about to just throw myself on the sofa and flick through pointless channels, when my mobile phone rings.

Who the hell is calling me...

I dig my phone out of my pocket and glance at the screen.

_Hinata_

"Hi, Hinata."

"T-Tenten?" I wonder where she is...it's really crowded, judging from all the background noise.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Um...is Neji...alright?" She asks tentatively.

...She really does have to care about every single person in the world..."He fell asleep for three seconds and woke up. He's gone back to sleep now. Hey, where are you guys?"

"Hi Tenten!" Naruto's voice blares into my ear. Idiot.

"Hi Naruto..."

"We're in Macau! It's so cool! You should've come, you know!"

I didn't _choose_ to get stuck babysitting my stupid, weak '_boyfriend_'. "Glad to know you're having fun and everything...well, say hi to Lee and Gaara for me, okay?"

"Sure! We'll get you some egg rolls!"

I hate egg rolls. "Uh...thanks...I'll see you when you get back then."

"'Kay, bye!"

"Bye."

I snap my phone shut and shove it back in my pocket before collapsing onto the sofa. It's going to be a long day...

* * *

_Two hours later_

Aw shit, I must have fallen asleep. The TV's still on...

I pick up the remote control from the floor and switch it off. There wasn't anything interesting on anyway...I don't watch a lot of TV, being in some retarded boarding school, and my grandma believing that it's bad for children or something...my grandparents don't own a TV. Which, is really, really sad, if you think about it. I have to read the freaking _newspaper_ to know what's going on.

Who's screaming? Why is someone screaming? Ah yes, now I remember, the screaming woke me up...but who the hell is screaming?!

Yeah, sounds like Neji.

I fling the door out of my way and rush to his bed, where he's flailing around in the bed sheets, screaming for some inexplicable reason. Is he having a nightmare? He's kicked all the blankets off and his arms are waving around in front of his face, as if he's trying to protect himself from something.

Damn, I need to shut him up before someone reports murder to the police.

"Neji, wake up." I approach him and move my hand to touch his shoulder, but as soon as I touch him, another scream emits from his throat and he jerks away from me.

Jesus that was scary.

SHUT THE FUCK UP!!

Okay, I need to...calm down and think rationally. Which is not very easy with a screaming teenager flailing around on his bed.

This is just perfect...what kind of teenager screams in his sleep because of a nightmare?!

"Neji, uh...the um...scary...things...are in your head, they don't exist, okay? So just...wake up and be happy!"

This is so lame. I'm trying to talk to him standing five feet away from him.

Damn, what can I do what can I do...

Before I know what I'm doing, I throw myself on him and start wrestling him down onto the bed. His arms and legs struggle to push me off, but I slam my whole weight down on him, forcing him down. The screaming only increases in volume as I entwine the fingers of each of my hands with his and push them down into the bed.

Ow,_ fuck_. Stop kicking me you_ bastard. _

Neji's still screaming. He's still kicking. And I'm still panicking. Fuck fuck fuck...what the hell am I supposed to do now? Shit, the whole bed's rocking, I won't be able to keep his arms down for much longer, I can't believe he's still _asleep_...okay, lets go with stopping the screaming...

I'm sure you can guess the first and only idea that came to my mind.

I crush my lips against his, swallowing his terrified screams. I shove my tongue into his mouth and force it down his throat, trying to prevent any sound from escaping. My eyes search his face frantically for any sign of..._anything_.

Okay, all I have to say when this is over is: I better not get his damn fever, or I will seriously kill somebody. Him, most likely.

Suddenly (and to my immense relief), his eyes fly open, and the struggling immediately ceases.

I suppose this is a good time to get my tongue out of his throat...

"T-Tenten?" He breathes, once I've drawn back.

"No, I'm your worse nightmare. Then again, I suppose you've already been through that." I say sarcastically, getting to my feet. "Do you always do that when you sleep? Or is it just me? Do I induce nightmares in you, or something? Because if that's the case, then I'd better-"

"No. That...that wasn't your fault, Tenten." Neji says with a considerable amount of effort, sitting up against the headboard. He reaches for the water and takes several large gulps. "It was...the fever."

The fever...right, I knew that. Damn, what am I doing, turning into some paranoid idiot...

"Whatever." I mutter, moving to get off him. "I'm going to-"

"No, Tenten, don't leave!" I stop, taken aback by the panic in his voice. He sounds so scared...and his eyes...wide, pleading and petrified. His hand is gripping my arm so tightly that it hurts.

"I mean...just...in case the fever worsens. You should...probably stay as close as you can, or Kurenai will put you in detention once we get back."

I look down into his panicked face. This has nothing to do with Kurenai.

_He's scared._

_He doesn't want to be alone._

"...alright." I crawl under the covers and lie next to him, as near the edge as possible, my arms awkwardly by my side. Not much you can do with a single bed...Neji's lying on his side, facing away from me, but the bed's too small for us to completely avoid contact.

I can't believe he's so scared he even needs _me _here right now...what the hell was he dreaming about? "Must've been one hell of a nightmare, Neji."

"..." He responds by pulling the blanket over his head.

I shouldn't bug him. Because then he'd get pissed and yell at me.

Except...

I really want to talk, because lying here practically pressed up against Neji's back and staying silent is pretty awkward, as you may imagine. Anyway, I don't think he wants to go to sleep...after every thirty seconds of lying still or so, he shifts his position as if to remind himself not to fall asleep.

What to talk about...

"I...really love the sea, you know?" What the hell am I saying? "Only the really clear blue seas, though. I hate green ones, because you just get the impression that it's filled with human waste and everything, you know? It's disgusting. And it doesn't look anywhere as good as blue ones."

Neji hasn't moved nor made a sound. I think he's actually listening.

"...I um...also hate watermelon. I hate any kind of melon. They really, really suck. I don't know why people like them. Like ice cream. I hate ice cream. It's so sweet and cold and everything...I hate it.

"And um...I like...shrimp. Because shrimp...is cool." This is stupid. "And uh...chocolate. With the caramel and everything. But I hate toffee. It's just...sticky and messy and blah.

"And I like rain. I don't like being in rain, but I like looking at rain from indoors, especially when it's heavy because you know the sound of the rain, right? It makes this really...satisfying sound, you know? But I hate it when everything's wet and disgusting afterwards...I hate walking in the rain. My pants get wet at the bottom and my hair looks like crap."

I'm expecting him to make some stupid joke, like am I implying that my hair doesn't look crap all the time, but he doesn't. He stays silent.

...he must be feeling really bad.

"...And I really_ hate_ being sick. Especially fevers, because you get so hot and sweaty, and there's that really annoying feeling at the back of your throat. When I had fevers when I was a kid, I never went to sleep, so my-" I pause for a second. "Sorry, I meant, someone used to sing me a song to go to sleep." I hesitate. "I think...it went like this."

I start singing that old lullaby that I so rarely got to listen to, but I never forgot.

* * *

**Neji**

_I never would have believed that Tenten could sing like this. I can't tell what language she's singing in, but the melody is so slow, simple and soothing that it doesn't matter. _

_The voice of an angel...this is what it would sound like._

_Ha...I should say that to Tenten someday...her reaction would be interesting..._

* * *

He's fallen asleep. It actually worked.

...what is he, six?! What kind of teenager falls asleep from a stupid lullaby...

I better get out of his bed now, before he wakes up and demands what the hell I'm doing in his bed.

Sighing, I move to slip out...

But he turns over onto his back and holds my wrist in a tight grip, his brow furrowing.

...is he awake? My eyes dart up to his face suspiciously. I'm certain he's asleep.

I get back into the bed and, without even thinking, lie on my side and wrap my arms around his waist.

It won't matter...

When he wakes up, we'll both want to pretend this never happened.

...

* * *

"_What _exactly do you two think you're doing?" A sharp voice pierces my consciousness, making me wince. Who the hell is that...

...where am I again?

I blink open my eyes blearily, only to see a mass of long brown tresses in front of me.

Ah yes, now I remember.

Shit.

"Tenten! Get off that bed this_ instant_!" That must be Kurenai. She sounds pissed. I'm fucking screwed. Found lying in bed with my sick boyfriend with my arms wrapped around him, no less, and asleep.

I scramble to get myself as far away from the damn bed as fast as possible, cursing under my breath. Neji's woken up by now, but the idiot gets to act like some poor sick person who's been taken advantage of. Curse him.

I stand next to the bed as innocently as I can look. Thank God she's alone, if Ino had seen me...

"Explain yourself." She seethes, glancing at Neji, who's trying to sit up.

"...Neji was shivering and saying that he was cold." What the hell am I saying? He had a_ fever_..."I was trying to keep him warm."

Her eyes narrow at me.

"Let us make this clear. First, you climb into bed with your _sick _boyfriend, doing God knows what, and then you have the audacity to _lie _to me about it, thinking that I am stupid enough to believe that he was cold, _while he was having a fever?_"

...yeah, I'm really, really screwed. "...sometimes shivering accompanies fever because the brain thinks this will increase the body temperature and therefore create enough heat to...kill the infection."

She's a fucking math teacher right? How the hell would she know? As long as I say it convincingly, any kind of bullshit should work.

Kurenai regards me silently for a few moments. She's afraid of saying I'm wrong and then looking like an idiot when I'm right, or saying I'm right and looking like an idiot when I'm wrong.

Whatever. Even without her speaking I know she's an idiot.

"And did he take his medicine at five?" She asks, starting to look even more pissed.

Damn. "...I'm sorry. We were both asleep at the time."

"Your behaviour is inexcusable. I trusted you, Tenten." Oh yeah, that makes me feel_ so_ guilty. "I'll find a suitable punishment for you when we arrive in Japan."

I can't believe I ever pitied that idiot Neji.

"Of course, Ms. Yuhi." I mutter, glaring at the floor.

"Get back to your own room, now." She snaps, striding past me to attend to Neji. "And take these." She throws me some random pills. "Judging from how I found you two when I walked in, you've probably caught his infection...doing whatever you two were doing."

Oh haha, very funny.

I close the door behind me as I walk out, shoving the stupid pills in my pocket. Stupid Kurenai...

I turn the corner, and see Hinata walking up the corridor. Oh, what a coincidence.

"T-Tenten!" She cries in surprise once she sees me.

"Hi, Hinata. Did you guys just get back?"

"U-um, yes...I was s-supposed to um...find you and take you to G-Gaara's room."

"Oh, right...c'mon then, lets go."

She nods, and turns to walk to the elevator.

"S-so um...how was Neji today?"

"Ugh, he's a retard...he started having a fucking_ nightmare _in the middle of the afternoon. He was screaming and everything and then in the end I stopped him but no, he wouldn't let me leave afterwards, so I had to lie there with him, and then in the end, I fell asleep with him and next thing I know Kurenai's yelling at me!" I make a strange frustrated noise at the end of my rant.

"A n-nightmare?" Hinata frowns, gazing thoughtfully down at the carpet.

"Yeah." I roll my eyes. "I mean, I get nightmares too, but I don't scream and kick and punch whenever I get them!"

I turn my head at Hinata's lack of response. "Hinata?"

She jumps, startled. "Oh, um...sorry."

"What is it?"

"...n-nothing."

"...right."

We're outside Gaara's suite now. I push the button near the door and hear a buzz on the other side. Suddenly, the door is flung open and Lee greets us with a blinding grin. "Tenten! Oh, we are so sorry to have left you behind!" He wails, clinging onto my neck. "You must have felt so abandoned!"

"Yeah yeah, get the hell off me!" I choke, trying to pry him off. Stupid, stupid...

"Tenten!" Naruto exclaims as I stumble into the apartment, Lee still attached to me. "Have fun with your boyfriend today?!" He laughs.

Bastard. Then again, he doesn't know, so I suppose he's not being mean.

Still. Bastard.

"Oh, our youthful flower is such a kind soul, giving up her own time to look after her lover!" Lee cries dramatically. Thank God he got off me. "She is to be admired! You have my respect, dear Tenten!"

"Yeah right." Naruto snorts. "I bet she got forced into it."

That's insulting. Does he think I'm that cold? Of course I would help a sick person!

Then again, it's kind of stupid too, because I could get infected as well...

Lee gasps again. "Is this true, my youthful flower!"

"Uh...of course not! I would so volunteer for my darling Neji! Hahaha!" Shit. Maybe the 'my darling' part was a bit too much.

"...that is such an obvious lie." Gaara says, coming out of the kitchen with a bottle of water in hand.

"Ugh, shut up."

* * *

_Sasuke let himself in with the key Neji had given him, and strode into his friend's bedroom. _

_"You look better." Sasuke commented blandly, seeing Neji sitting on a couch and staring out the window. _

_Neji turned. "I only needed some rest. Where are Ino and the others?"_

_"Ino's angry at you." Sasuke announced calmly, though there was a certain amount of exasperation in his voice. "She hates me too, actually, for suggesting that Tenten stay with you. And you only needed to put in one sentence and Kurenai would have let Ino stay instead of Tenten."_

_"Ah." Neji turned back to the window as Sasuke sat down beside him. "And Temari and Sakura?"_

_"They're trying to make her see reason, or something like that." Sasuke put his legs up on the coffee table and folded his arms. "The only one she'll talk to right now is Temari." He sighed again. "I can never understand girls. _

_Neji agreed silently. _

_"Hey, Neji."_

_He turned to face Sasuke. "What is it?"_

_"Ino was really worried about you." It seemed to take Sasuke great effort to say something like this. "You should talk to her."_

_"I will."_

_Sasuke looked as if he wanted to add something, but stopped himself. Neji didn't press him. "Do you want me to stay?" He said finally, looking away deliberately, arms still folded. _

_He smiled slightly at Sasuke's awkward kindness. "Please."_

* * *

Of course, the first thing Kurenai does when we get back to school is inform me gleefully (okay fine, maybe I'm imagining the 'gleefully' part, but I need to make her seem evil) of my punishment.

"You shall spend all of Tuesday afternoon sorting out the books in the library while the librarian is out."

What?! How the hell do I do that?!

"You are familiar with the Dewey decimal system?" Kurenai asks, looking up at me from her desk.

"...yes, of course." Maybe I should check...

"If you are unsure, you had better go to the library and check before tomorrow. The librarian is meeting her sister in the morning, and will be out for the rest of the day. As I'm sure you're aware, the library has undergone some renovation to install more computers and more space for the new books the Haruno family have so generously offered us."

Damn. This is all Sakura's fault. I should just go kill her now...

"Yes, Ms. Yuhi." I reply sullenly.

"Very well then. Go to the library immediately after school tomorrow. I shall be checking on you every hour, so don't even think of playing truant. Dismissed." She waves me away and goes back to her marking.

Bitch...

* * *

The library is the best facility in the whole school, and takes up most of the top floor; it has a large glass dome at the top and long windows going down the sides so it's flooded with sunlight during the day. Shelves are built into the walls, but many shelves stand next to them, forming long corridors of books. In the middle of the library are many tables and chairs for students, and the random couch or chair scattered randomly between the shelves. An elegant staircase stands on the left side, curving up to the second floor.

I used to spend a lot of time here, before the stupid thing with Neji started. I love this place. Well, love_d_. I hate it now. You know why? Because it houses thousands of books. Book that I have to sort into shelves today.

Argh.

Kurenai leads me into some obscure corner that I've never been to before and gestures at the pile of books on the floor, standing before the empty shelves. "Start now. I'll come back every hour until dinner. Here's the list." She hands me a long list of books and their numbers.

Great.

"Thank you." I mutter, taking the sheets.

Ah. Now I know why I've never been here.

It's the art section. Books about dead artists that nobody gives a crap about. Except the art students, I suppose.

And why the hell do I need to know the Dewey decimal system if I'm just going to follow a damn list anyway?!

I start digging through the piles for the first book. I can't believe I have to do this for four hours...

I'm roughly at the middle of the first page when I hear someone call my name.

"Tenten."

Who the hell is that...

"Oh. Neji. Do you need something?" I ask as I push the ladder. God it's heavy, even on wheels. My arms are going to be sore tomorrow.

"I thought you'd need some help." He says, eyeing my slow progress with the ladder.

I look up in surprise. "What?" Is he serious?

He arches an eyebrow. "Does my offer to help seem so strange to you?"

"No, it's just..."

_What was I going to say?_

"Whatever. Here's the list." I throw it at him, before climbing up the ladder to shove a book into the first shelf. "I'm up to Art: Expressions of Emotion."

"...that's an interesting title." He frowns at the list. "Then the next one is Art: Flowers."

"Oh, aren't you a genius. Find it."

"What, in_ there_?" He asks incredulously, backing away from the books. "That's impossible."

"How do you think I got all_ these_." I gesture at the sad collection of books I have accumulated. I climb back down the ladder to help Neji look for the book.

"You know, Kurenai's gonna come check on me in an half an hour." I tell him as we search. "I don't think she's going to appreciate you helping me, sweet as the gesture is."

"You don't have to worry about something like _that_." Neji says condescendingly. "Unlike you, I'm quite popular among the teachers as well as the students. Ah, here we are." He pulls out the book we're looking for. "I just put it up there, then?"

"...where else..."

I turn back to the list as he heads for the ladder. Pompous ass...

Art: Love and Hate.

What the hell is up with all the Art: Crap books?!

"What does_ art_ have to do with love and hate!" I grit out in frustration. I'm going to waste four hours of my life doing this. I have a right to be frustrated.

"You can relate anything to love and hate." Neji says, getting off the ladder.

"Blah blah blah. Just find the damn book."

"You disappoint me, Tenten. We were supposed to go into a deep philosophical discussion about love and hate and art."

"Well, sorry for disappointing you." I mutter sarcastically, getting down on my knees to search through the piles of books. I'm sure I saw that one somewhere around here...

"Oh of course, Tenten doesn't believe in love."

I roll my eyes. "I believe in love. I believe in hate. I hate art. End of philosophical discussion."

"You are so frustrating at times."

"So are you."

"But you love it."

I glare at him. "No I do _not_."

"Admit it."

"Neji, shut up."

Being with him is getting easier...even if we fight and insult each other more than anything else, it's still...more comfortable than it was at the beginning.

_Is that a good thing?_

No.

"Neji, I hate you." I blurt out randomly without thinking.

He doesn't even turn to look at me. "What inspired _that_ little outburst, I wonder?"

Why the hell did I say that...I must be going crazy, I can't even think straight. "Blargh. I love broccoli."

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

"But I do."

"I found it." He holds up the book.

...that makes no sense. I'm sure I saw it here.

"There are two copies of that book." I declare, turning back to my pile.

"That's not what the list says."

"Well then, screw the list."

"Tenten, what's gotten into you? You're being utterly ridiculous." He approaches me, frowning. I want to back away but...

I'm frozen to the spot.

_I want him to be close to me._

Fuck, I'm seriously going retarded.

"You're flushed. Are you hot?" He puts his hand on my forehead.

I can hear my racing heartbeat in my own ears as his hand touches my skin.

"No!"I shake my head and force myself backwards, stumbling as I do so.

Unfortunately the ladder is standing right behind me, and I collide into it as I fall onto my back.

It all happens so quickly. I'm on my back on the floor, below the tipping ladder. It's going to fall, I know, but I can't move, I'm paralysed by fear. I hear a shout of "Tenten watch out!" and close my eyes as my arms reflexively move to the front of my face to protect myself.

In the next second, I feel two thuds on top of me.

The first, I automatically assumed was the ladder, as my eyes were still closed. It didn't hurt as much as I expected; in fact, it didn't hurt at all. Warm and soft-this wasn't the ladder.

The second thud was much heavier, I felt the pressure and knew it was the ladder, but it hadn't fallen on me. I hear a sharp gasp and a groan.

I open my eyes slowly, and see what I knew I would.

Neji's face. Except it was contorted in such obvious pain that I give an involuntary shudder.

Fuck. He actually threw himself in the path of the ladder when it was falling...

_He did it for me._

"Tenten..." He gasps, cracking open an eye. "A-Are you...alright..." His voice trembles in pain.

"You _idiot_." I breathe, horrified. "The ladder fell on _you _and you're asking_ me_...oh God, right, sorry, I'll get it off you, just wait..." I scramble to get out from underneath him, to get the ladder off him somehow, but crawling out from beneath Neji and the ladder is so difficult...

I finally get out, and heave the ladder to the side with as much force as I can to get it off Neji's back. He groans as it clatters on the marble floor, wincing as he tries to sit up.

"Neji! Don't move! Are you okay?!"

"I'm...fine." He pants, attempting smile. "Don't worry, I'll probably only have a few bruises..."

"You could've fractured your shoulder or something, we need to get you to the nurse!" I ramble hysterically. "C'mon, get up, lets go!"

He laughs brokenly. "Worried about me, Tenten?"

"Yeah, surprise surprise, I'm a human being. Get _up_!" I pull him up by the arm, and practically drag him out of the library and to the nurse's office.

"That was the stupidest thing you've ever done, what if it landed on your _head_?! You could have had brain damage, or worse!" I rant as we walk down the stairs to the nurse. "What were you _thinking_?!"

He keeps silent as we make our way down, listening blankly to my terrified ranting.

I push him into the nurse's office, telling her what happened, asking whether he would be okay.

"Let me see him first." She says, alarmed. "Those ladders are extremely heavy, he could have suffered extensive damage."

"I think I'm alright, Nurse." He says with a charming smile on his face. "It doesn't feel as bad as it did before."

"Let me take a look anyway." She instructs him to lie on his stomach and rolls up his shirt, her fingers pressing down expertly. "There seems to be no damage to the bone, as far as I can tell...maybe we should send you to the hospital for an X-ray, just to make sure." She says at last.

"That would be unnecessary, I'm sure I haven't fractured anything. The pain isn't that bad; I feel fine." Neji insists, rolling his shirt back down.

"Are you sure you don't feel anything?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Well, you're going to have some nasty bruises tomorrow, but it doesn't seem like you've damaged anything else." She frowns. "I still think you should go down to the hospital..."

"No, please don't bother." He says politely, standing up. "I'll just leave now."

"...if you say so. If you experience any more pain, come straight to me you understand? Good, now you better take this for the bruises you'll have tomorrow."

"Thank you." He says gratefully, before stalking out. I follow him, bewildered.

Is it just me or does he seem...

Angry?

"Neji?" I say tentatively as we step out of the school building.

"What." He snaps, whirling around. I stop in my tracks in front of the fountain, surprised by his hostility.

"Why are you mad?" I ask, starting to feel irritated. What the hell did I do?

He casts his eyes up to the sky and makes some kind of hand gesture, a frustrated noise coming from the back of his throat.

"Forget it." He says finally, turning on his heel.

He is not walking away.

It's started raining heavily, but I don't care. I chase after him, determined to find out what the hell is wrong. He picks up his pace as he hears my footsteps quickening, and eventually we're both running flat out in the pouring rain.

I manage to steer him away from the dorms and direct him to the grounds instead, where the grass will make it easier to run without fear of slipping. Normally Neji would outrun me easily, but today he's injured and I'm determined.

I spring and tackle him to the ground. We're both dripping wet and furious at each other, but I pin him forcefully to the ground, ignoring his wince as I push his sore back into the grass.

"What is your problem!" I shout above the sound of the rain. Our noses our nearly touching, and I can see his face clearly. The drops of rain from my hair sliding down his pale, smooth skin, trickling down past his face and to the long, slender column of his neck. His eyes are filled with a mixture of emotions that take me a while discern...pain, anger, frustration...and something else.

_Hurt?_

It suddenly hits me, and I immediately feel the blush creeping up to my cheeks.

"Oh God Neji, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot..." I rest my forehead against his, closing my eyes, letting out an embarrassed laugh. I raise my head and look into his eyes. "...thank you, for saving me. Without you, the ladder would probably have...crushed me or something. You...did something so dangerous for me, and I...just call you stupid. God, I'm the worst...I'm sorry, okay? And...thank you. Really. You really...thank you." I finish lamely.

But when I see his lips curving into that smile, I know I've said the right thing.

"You're welcome." He chuckles, his hand moving up behind my head and running a few strands of my loose hair through his fingers. "An awkward sort of thank you, but it works."

"Shut up."

"That's not how you should talk to someone who just saved your life. Or at least, your face. Maybe a bone or two."

"God, you really are annoying."

"But you love it."

We both laugh, two idiots lying on the ground in the pouring rain, soaked to the skin.

But somehow...

_I feel warm._

"C'mon lets get in before we catch colds." I sigh, rolling off him. Damn. I just had to wear a white shirt in the rain.

Neji gets up and starts looking at the back of his shirt. "Oh this is perfect. You got grass and soil on my new shirt."

I roll my eyes. "Such a tragedy."

"Isn't it."

A flash of lightning streaks through the sky, and a deep rumble of thunder follows soon after.

"Unless you want to get him by lightning, I suggest we start heading back up to the dorms." I tell him as haughtily as I can with my hair soaked.

"No, letting you get hit by lightning would completely ruin the point of me saving you in the library from that big scary ladder." Neji agrees.

Bastard.

I stalk off by myself, fully intending to just leave him there, but he catches up to me and takes my hand.

"This way, if I get hit by lightning, I can have the comfort of knowing that someone is suffering with me." He says cheerfully, gripping my hand tighter.

And for some reason, I just can't bring myself to order him to let go.

* * *

_Ino watched over the stair banister as Neji and Tenten came stumbling into the building hand-in-hand, laughing as if they weren't drenched in rainwater. Her brow furrowed, and long fingers gripped the banister tightly. _

_Perhaps...this little experiment with Tenten was getting out of hand. _

_"I'm going to change, then I'm going to get something hot to drink." Tenten said at the foot of the stairs. Ino automatically retreated to the top. _

_"Am I allowed to join you?" Neji asked, following her as she climbed up. _

_"No."_

_"That's cold."_

_"Oh haha, nice joke."_

_"I just saved y-"_

_"Okay okay fine! But after today, you can't use that anymore, got it?"_

_"It's a deal."_

_"Ugh."_

_Ino walked as quickly as she could down the corridor, closing the door after her as she walked into her dorm. She had had difficulty understanding their conversation-Neji had saved Tenten? From what?_

_Outside, she heard a cry of "Oh shit! Kurenai! Damn, I'm screwed!"_

_The sound of Neji's laughter followed. "She'll come looking for you later, you can explain then. Or at dinner."_

_"No, I better do it now...get some hot chocolate or something, I'll be right back. Unless she makes me go back to the library..."_

_"She won't, not while you're soaking wet. Get her sympathy, she'll let you off. Sound regretful."_

_"Oh aren't you the master at this."_

_"Just be grateful when she lets you off. Now go."_

_The sound of Tenten running down back down the stairs. Neji walking along the corridor and stopping just opposite her door. His door opening and closing as he let himself in. _

_Ino closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She had to stay calm...she had to think of a way to fix this..._

_The answer was obvious, but drastic. But no matter...everyone would rejoice when Neji announced that he was single again. Not that he would be for long. _

_After a few minutes, she could hear Neji's door opening again, and his footsteps going down the stairs. Presumably to the kitchen to get those drinks. _

_She waited for exactly 120 seconds before taking a deep breath and making her way down there herself. She slipped into the kitchen quietly, where Neji had already gotten out two mugs and was spooning powder into them. _

_"Hi Neji." She greeted cheerfully, an easy smile coming to her lips. He turned around in surprise. _

_"Ino. I didn't hear you come in. Where did you come from?"_

_"The lab." She lied swiftly. "I needed to take care of something. Did you just come out of the rain?" She asked innocently, approaching him slowly. "Your hair's wet."_

_"Yes, I was coming from the upper building."_

_"Right. What are you doing now?" She stood next to him, her palms on the counter. _

_"Hot chocolate."_

_"How nice." Ino paused. "I can't help but notice...there are two cups."_

_"One's for Tenten. She came back with me. She's just gone out to find Kurenai."_

_"She came back with you? What were you doing with her?" Ino cursed herself inwardly; she sounded like a paranoid housewife._

_"Nothing in particular." Neji answered vaguely._

_Her eyes narrowed at his careful tone. So he wasn't going to tell her about the 'saving' or whatever it was?_

_"I think you'd better leave before she comes back. You intimidate her." He seemed amused now. "Especially after that threat in the hotel room."_

_"What do you care if she feels intimidated? The more intimidated targets feel, the better."_

_She had deliberately used the word 'target' to remind Neji why exactly he was with Tenten. But then, why would he forget? Every moment he spent with her was exhausting, or so he had said. He would not lie to her._

_It took Neji a few moments to reply. "I suppose so. But she's easier to handle when she's comfortable. And I won't have to listen to her insulting rant about you afterwards."_

_"You seem to know her very well."_

_"So would you, if you spent that much time around her."_

_"I pity you. It must be so exhausting." She said sympathetically, putting her hand on his arm. _

_"Well, she's not always that bad." He admitted. Ino didn't like that smile on his face. "Surprisingly, she can sometimes be quite insightful. And funny." He let out a quiet laugh, setting the mugs down on the counter. "Most of the time she really frustrates me, but I can't help enjoying myself at the same time...it's strange, I've never felt that way be-mmmph!"_

_Neji's eyes widened as Ino crushed her lips against his forcefully. Her eyes were closed, and she had twisted him around so she could push him into the counter. _

_It wasn't one of the most romantic kisses for Neji. His eyes were wide open in shock and his hands were by his sides. But it seemed that Ino was enjoying herself. She forced his lips open and swept her tongue in his mouth, while her hands roamed all over his sore back and fisted his hair. _

_After a few moments she stepped back; the fire in her eyes was something Neji had never seen before. It was frightening. _

_"Break up with Tenten. I'm giving you one month so that you can make it seem natural. And after Tenten is gone..." She placed her palms on his chest, smirking. "You are mine." _

_With that, she sashayed out of the room, fully confident that she had regained control. _

_Neji stared after her in shock. He couldn't quite believe what had just happened. _

_"Hey Neji, I'm back. You done with those drinks yet?" Tenten's voice called from the foyer, bringing Neji back to his senses. _

_"Almost." Neji replied, turning back to the mugs and picking one up clumsily. "How did it go with Kurenai?"_

_"Oh, she was just worried about you. But I don't have to do another stupid detention, so it's fine. She told me to get out of her office and change before I caught a cold." She came into the kitchen, dripping wet._

_"You better go up and change then." Neji told her. _

_There was a pause. "Hey Neji, are you...okay?" She sounded worried. _

_Neji's heart pounded. What could possibly have given him away? "Of course I'm fine. What makes you ask?"_

_"It's just...you sound weird, and you're really pale...you're sure you didn't fracture a bone or something, right?" She asked as she walked towards him, frowning. _

_"Oh aren't you protective." Neji said as jokingly as he could, knowing it would annoy Tenten. _

_It worked. She froze, and turned on her heel, marching out of the kitchen scornfully. "As if."_

_Neji breathed a sigh of relief as he heard her footsteps echoing up the stairs. _

_He had no idea what to do next. _

* * *

**Oh dear, what bad timing...just when he and Tenten were getting close...how sad.**

**Sorry if this chapter seems really awkward and everything. I haven't written anything for over a month, it was difficult to make it seem natural...**

**Anyway, lol, thanks for reading (the longest chapter I've ever written...), hopefully the next chapter won't take so long. Please review!**


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